Fallout: Orleans
by College Fool
Summary: The Enclave and Napoleon and Supermutant Pirates, oh my! What do these three things have in common? Come in and find out. This is the tale of the telling of the story of a war in the Bayou and the Mighty Mississippi. What will your Navigator find at the end? Game Masters and Designers invited.
1. Intro

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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_War. War never changes._

_When atomic fire the earth, many of those who survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, form new tribes amongst the ruins and survivors of those not so fortunate._

_As the centuries passed, what had been the American Gulf Coast were reclaimed by the Bayou, a massive swamp born from the Might Mississippi and the pollution of the pre-war. Expansive, oppressive, and radioactive, few tribes could survive outside the relative safety of the few pre-war cities to not be overwhelmed by the Bayou. With few resources and fewer prospects, no societies formed even as small states and empires began to rise and struggle elsewhere in the Wasteland._

_No societies until Orleans, a ravaged and ruined city rejuvenated by one man, the First Consul. Uniting the many tribes and neighborhoods of the city in a vision of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, the First Consul dedicated his vision to old-world values of freedom and progress of the French Enlightenment. As progress grew, so did the city: streets were cleared, neighborhoods reclaimed, the Bayou beaten back from the city as friends and allies were won over from across the Bayou. It was a golden age of enlightenment and progress, with visions of future liberalism and exploration soon to be squandered by the First Consul's heir and daughter._

_Taking the name Napoleon in the model of both Caesar and in tribute to the conqueror of old, she saw a different path to glory. Soldiers were raised, nobility established, a declining slave trade revived as the Orleans Republic became the Orleans empire. With ambitions of expansion and domination of the Gulf Coast, Napoleon reached out to claim the ruined city Baton Rouge as her first prize. Then the Enclave attacked, denouncing Napoleon's imperialism and slavery while promising a return to a republic and old-world standards of living._

_With advanced technology and support from desperate and dissatisfied locals, the Enclave soon took much of the city and the region. But Napoleon rallied, calling in allies and support from across the region, including the Gulf Coast Brotherhood of Steel who stalled the initial Enclave advance. The stalemate coalesced when a third faction arrived: an alliance of maritime merchants and pirates known as the Blue Water Monopoly. Having originally come to attack Orleans and preserve their sea-faring monopoly, the Blue Waters saw an opportunity to profit from the war by ensuring neither side could best the other. Exhausted and overstretched, neither Orleans nor the Enclave could reject the new status quo as the city was split between them along the Mighty Mississippi._

_Seven years have passed since the initial invasion, and the position of all sides has solidified despite sporadic fighting. While Napoleon rebuilds her Grand Army from the French Quarter, the Enclave's Governor Hans rebuilds the region under Enclave rule in a bid for legitimacy and support from the undecided masses. Amongst it all, Blue Water merchants and mercenaries profit from the simmering conflict by selling their services to both sides while preventing either from gaining a decisive advantage. A sense of normality, if not peace, has covered the region as people try to survive in this time of war._

_ You are a Navigator. The captain of your own boat, you navigate the Bayous and shores of the Gulf Coast, transporting people and cargo to their destination. Just yesterday a young woman paid you handsomely to take her deep into the bayous north of Orleans, where the Orleans Empire and Enclave struggle for influence._

_ It should have been your lucky break. But now, as the sounds of boats approach your own, you have a feeling that your luck is about to take a turn for the worse…_

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Author Notes and Introduction

What is Fallout: Orleans?

Fallout: Orleans is a video game. Fallout: Orleans is not a video game. Fallout: Orleans is a tabletop RPG. Fallout: Orleans is not a tabletop RPG. Fallout: Orleans is a narrative, not a story. Fallout: Orleans isn't quite a narrative, but still not a story.

FO:O is and is not many things, and defies simple categorization. Put it all together, though, and it can be described as 'How I'd Try To Make A Fallout Game.' It is a tribute, an ambition, an outline, and a confession. It is a whole lot of ideas and imaginings and things I thought would be interesting but know would never be made. And for good reason: it's not an easy idea to tell.

I originally thought of FO:O in terms of being my outline for a video game, but there are a number of things I recognize that wouldn't be smart video game design. I tried to write it in terms of being a guide book or planning document for a tabletop RPG, but there is no established Fallout tabletop RPG that I could really use as a reference, and certainly none complex enough for some of the ideas I sketch out. This absolutely isn't a conventional story, but in sketching out so much world-building for a non-linear scenario and exploration experience it can't really qualify as a narrative either. This is like nothing I have ever done before, including Renegade Reinterpretations.

Fallout: Orleans has already been written to my satisfaction, an effort of a few years of non-continuous and infrequent effort. Since it is effectively done, updates should be regular. Not necessarily every day, but likely multiple times a week depending on the week's goal. This weekend marks the start with initial setting building.

Since most of the story will be written for a game master or developer's reference, the Author's Notes will hopefully be much shorter going forward. They will primarily be used to address questions that wouldn't otherwise get answered, note interesting or dropped ideas from the creation process, and share a random factoid suitable for the chapter.

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Secret of the Bayou:

Where FO3 has the Brotherhood of Steel Paladin and FNV has the NCR Ranger, the iconic character of Fallout: Orleans is the Orleans Grenadier.

Specifically based off miniatures sold by Victrix, from the box art for the Napoleon's Old Guard Grenadiers. With a dirty and worn blue uniform suggesting wear and tear, a backpack with bed roll and x-straps on the front, and an exceptionally long rifle, Grenadiers are the elite of Napoleon's forces. With their 'musket' being a specially crafted grenade launcher, proficient with explosives of every sort, and always leading from the front with élan, Grenadiers are an explosive force on the battlefield that will given even power-armor equipped Enclave soldiers a reason for concern.


	2. Orleans: Sequel to FO3 and FNV

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Historical Context: Where does Fallout: Orleans take place in relation to the Fallout Universe to date?

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FO:O takes place about a decade and a half after FO3, or a decade after FO:NV. New civilizations are beginning to rise across North America: first as city states, then as empires, and even emerging nations. Some, like Caesar's Legion, are truly tyrannical despots. Others, like the NCR, seek to return to the political enlightenment of the pre-war.

The Republic of Orleans was one of the later. Despite the constant radiation of the Mighty Mississippi and the encroaching bayous, the city of Orleans was unified under the visionary leadership of a man remembered as the First Consul. Statesman, explorer, and chemist, his contributions to the public good, and accomplishment in bringing radiation-purging Punga fruit all the way from Point Lookout, have become the foundation myth for Orleans society. Advances in politics, technology, even building new ships for trade brought new life to the city as it emerged on the Gulf Coast. When the First Consul died, none questioned the ascension of his child to the position. Rather than simply continue her father's policies, however, the child led the city-state republic into the Orleans Empire, beginning a campaign of expansion and assimilation across the Bayou even as she took the name Napoleon. Conscription expanded: slaves imported from afar were used to fill the ranks of his armies in exchange for future freedoms. The scientists of the city were pressed to researching means of wars. An initial wave of successes expanded Orleans influence, even establishing minor colonies along the Gulf Coast.

Then the Enclave came: with the claim of ending Napoleon's imperialism, eradicating slavery, and restoring democracy, remnants of the pre-war American government occupied much of the city and sought to claim Orleans for itself. But the once-terrifying specter of the wasteland was not what it once was: too few Enclave, too many Orleaners, and the Gulf Coast Brotherhood of Steel stalled the Enclave's attempts to take the entire city. The stalemate only strengthened with the arrival of the Blue Water Monopoly, a corporate alliance of pirates and merchants who quickly established themselves as the balancing king-maker determined to perpetuate the situation. While the forces of the Orleans Empire were thrown out of the downtown Orleans, Napoleon continued to fight from the bayou and from the northern city.

That was seven years ago. The war is at a stalemate: the Brotherhood of Steel (Gulf Coast), while content to resume neutrality with a cease-fire agreement with the Enclave, maintains the automated air-defense network that stops the Enclave's vertibirds over much of the city, and their proximity guarantees the safety of the French Quarter. Without air support, the Orleans Empire is simply too big and too numerous for the Enclave to put down. Where the Enclave are, they can often win: when they leave, Orleans resumes control. All the while the Blue Waters traders sell their wares to all comers, even as Blue Water mercenaries and pirates have made themselves indispensable to both sides.

Now all the three factions are looking for anything that could change this quagmire to their own advantage. One such catalyst may have been found, a secret lost to the Bayou and dismissed as a myth … the Bayou Cure.

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What to take away:

-FO:O takes place after FO3 and FO:NV in, of course, the vicinity of New Orleans. The primary combatants are the Enclave and the Orleans Empire, with the seafaring merchant-pirate Blue Waters being a third party that seeks to profit from the chaos by selling their goods and services to all sides.

-Not only was New Orleans hit hard in the Great War, but the radiation of the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast have made it a remarkably hostile place to live. It is a region with a very high percentage of ghouls, and a lower life expectancy if you aren't one. Rebuilding under the Orleans Republic-turn-Empire has cleaned up the place a great deal, and the city of Orleans is a (relatively) radiation-free island in the radioactive Gulf Coast.

-The Enclave is far weaker than it once was, and can not take the city by force alone, particularly because of a Brotherhood of Steel anti-air system that blocks the Vertibirds. It started the war when it arrived seven years ago, and has been in a quagmire since. The Enclave's quagmire reflects its two themes of a history of defeats and a hard struggle to rebuild pre-war idealism.

-Napoleon took an enlightened city-state republic and turned it into an empire. In doing so she has squandered many of her father's most progressive projects that made the city notable, and expanded its flaws (such as the previously-smaller slave trade). Orleans has much greater local support and numbers than the Enclave, but far less than it would have under the Republic. On the other hand, without her militarization the city would have fallen quickly, and it would be completely fair to say that her militarization is the primary reason the city has survived at all. Two themes of the Orleans Empire is squandered foresight and national pride.

-The Blue Water Monopoly (more commonly called the Blue Water Pirates) are a mixed group, an alliance of merchant traders and pirates and just about anyone with a sea-worthy vessel united in a corporate umbrella. Their name comes from their policy of recruiting, seizing, or sinking every ship they can to maintain a monopoly on maritime trade. While there have always been pirates in the bayous of Orleans (known as the Brown Water pirates), the Blue Water pirates are a more recent arrival who showed up to crush the nascent Orleans navy and decided to stay in order to profit from the war. Both merchants and mercenaries, they are up for hire by anyone for anything, while keeping either side from gaining a decisive advantage. The themes of the pirates are absolute freedom of opportunity, even at the cost of others… and the acceptance of the consequences that result.

-The Brotherhood of Steel in the Gulf Coast is of the traditional non-interventionist sort. After initial fighting between it and the Enclave, the BoS is a neutral party that maintains defenses against the Enclave, though their neutrality greatly favors Orleans by default. The themes of the BoS remain, as always, the squandered potential to make a difference. Despite their seeming importance in the backstory to set up the context of the status quo, they are a very minor, almost certainly doomed faction.

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Author Notes:

The more objective meta-narrative, as opposed to the predatory intro modeled off of the FNV intro dialogue. Here we get some context about the rest of the wasteland: not important in and of itself to Orleans, but a nice way to give a nod to the games.

Starting Monday: a look at the major factions, starting with the Enclave.

Remember Navarro. Remember D.C. Avoid the Mistakes. This isn't your Grandpa's Enclave.

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Secret of the Bayou:

The First Consul is basically an expy of James, your father from FO3, who succeeded in what he set out to do and then some. He is pretty much the biggest Mary Sue of the setting, a hyper-capable scientist/politician/explorer/trader/diplomat who took one of the worst places in the Wasteland and in a matter of years turned it into... not one of the best, but far from the worst and certainly going up. Beloved by all Orleaners, and respected by those who would have opposed him regardless, he is **_the_ **Founding Father for the Orleans. His reign of the Orleans Republic is universally remembered and regarded as a golden era. Fortunately he died of radiation sickness, and so only dominates back-story rather than the current narrative.

He wasn't quite that perfect, of course, and is raised on a pedestal that hides the contributions of everyone else involved, but he was definitely a great person in his time. If there is one key difference between him and James in FO3, though, it was that while James turned his back on the world to care for his child, the First Consul turned his back on his child to care for the world. The First Consul left his daughter to be raised in a brothel while he wandered the Wasteland in a quest to find Orleans' salvation. While the two reconciled well after he returned years later, Napoleon has a less hyper-romanticized view of her father than pretty much everyone else, and the period of time growing up without him likely affected her views in their divergent direction from his.


	3. Faction Introduction: Enclave

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Faction Overview: The Enclave

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This isn't your grandfather's Enclave. After successive defeats and failures on the West Coast and East, much of what remains of the Enclave has been gathered for what may be one last push at reclaiming American territory along the South Cost. With the rise of city-states and nascent civilizations across the country, this may be the Enclave's last chance to become a player in the rebuilding of North American civilization. Survivors from the failed Capital Wasteland Campaign, descendants of those who fled the NCR on the West Coast… these are not the once-formidable Enclave who had no challengers. These are the survivors of a stream of losing conflicts, with few of the advantages they once had.

Defeat has brought humility. The Enclave can no longer afford to cling to beliefs of genetic purity, or to spurn the locals: it simply does not have the manpower to do so. Nor can the Enclave simply rely on advanced technology to overcome its foes, or assume its opponents will be primitives, or do whatever it wants to those in its power. Only a return to those pre-war strengths of America, of Freedom and Restraint, of Power and Purpose, and most of all a Return to Democracy, can bring America and a new Orleans into being.

Or so says Governor Samuel Hans, the leader of the Gulf Coast Enclave. Though not technically the highest ranking Enclave officer in the area, from his post as Military-Governor of Orleans he has gathered a power base that makes him the de facto Enclave authority in the region. With the support of some of the highest Enclave remnants, a deliberate policy of accruing local support, and a personal command of the mysterious and newly-activated Enclave Marines, Governor Hans runs the Enclave's occupational administration and sets local policy through his influence of the occupational bureaucracy... a bureaucracy that, by necessity, is reliant on collaborators to run it. A veteran of D.C. and a public critic of past Enclave genocidal attempts and other policies, he has been described as an idealist by both his political foes and more old-time Enclave veterans for his efforts in integration.

Naive or not, at least he's a successful idealist and the situation in Orleans would be far worse had he not assumed his position five years ago. Captain Hans was the one who brokered a truce between the Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel after the initial fighting between the two, removing the Brotherhood from an active enemy to passive obstruction. Against long-standing Enclave policy, Captain Hans began the recruitment of locals into the reconstituted National Guard from his office as military-governor of the city. And most significantly, Governor Hans targeted the discontent within Napoleon's Empire to break the unwilling parts of the Orleans Empire away from Napoleon, including making the disruption of the slave trade a priority: every slave ship intercepted is that many fewer soldiers and laborers for Napoleon's effort, and can often be turned to the Enclave's benefit. A quagmire Orleans remains, but one that would be far less sustainable had traditional Enclave priorities been observed: the Enclave is at least tolerated by those it occupies, and not actively opposed by all.

The idealism of those who set policy is always undermined by the executors who don't agree. The Enclave retains significant flaws and blemishes. While the genetic-purist genocidal faction has largely been silenced, anti-ghoul discrimination remains prevalent… a marked problem when nearly a quarter of the region's population are non-feral ghouls. There also remain the Enclave Veterans who remember the previous wars, and the 'necessities' therein: retaliatory executions to pacify a village, requisition by force from locals, and guilt by blood (punishing not only a perpetrator, but their entire family), and the historic 'genetic non-compliance' for ghouls suspected of collaborating with Napoleon are all practices that continue in practice despite being prohibited at the top. Enclave soldiers are usually on good behavior when witnesses abound… and remarkably less consistent when no one will ever know. The promise of restoring democracy also rings a bit hollow when no local will be able to vote in the Enclave's Federal election for decades at best, and only seven years in are the first local elections just now being organized.

In other words, the promised return of American idealism falls short. Even when Governor Hans is derided as an idealist, he is an idealist by Enclave standards: he remains a soldier as well as a politician, authoritarian in practice if not preference, and this remains a war in which, as much as you might prefer otherwise, bad things need to happen to worse people.

Hans' right-hand woman who insures that is Belle. Not much is known about Belle by most. She has no official rank, and holds no official office despite having been at Captain Hans' side so long that few people can remember when she wasn't. The relationship between the two is likewise unclear: she is rumored in turn to be his secretary, his mistress, his personal representative, or, for those who know what sort of missions she often goes for, his personal field operative: she can shoot, fight, hide, hack, pick, steal, and survive with the best of them.

In fact, Belle is Captain Hans' personal problem solver: when he has a problem, she finds a way to solve it, whether he needed to give an order or not. She originally hails from the Capital Wasteland area, where she was once a slave liberated by the Enclave. While then-Lieutenant Hans set a number of slaves free before leaving, she tracked him down during the Enclave retreat to follow him, and has proven herself both remarkably talented and loyal to him ever since. It's often hard to tell what she does at the request of Hans and what she does on her own initiative, except that she tries harder to hide any evidence of the later lest it cause him problems. Belle is the head of a similar highly unofficial group of problem solvers that answer to the Military-Governor, but has dropped off the grid in recent months. Many, on both sides, not-so-quietly hope that Governor Hans' personal Grimm Reaper has passed along herself.

In truth, Belle has just returned to the vicinity of Orleans after a long mission, and has just hired a local Navigator for a mission of extreme importance.

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What to take away:

-The Enclave has dropped from 'complete monster' status, but remains dubious on a number of grounds, especially the whole 'occupational authority' bit. A democracy for the wastelanders it is not, propaganda aside. It has had to sacrifice a number of its worst flaws in order to survive and continue this war, but remains burdened by history. The 'best' Enclave troops in terms of character are usually the local recruits who buy into the idealism and/or propaganda: these are now increasingly a plurality of the Enclave's proxy forces seven years into the war, so there's hope for the future, but just that.

-The Enclave claims to be returning democracy to Orleans, but in truth it remains a militaristic, occupying army. Elections are for citizens, and wastelanders aren't citizens. Using a justification of pre-war laws, becoming a naturalized 'full' citizen is a twenty year process with plenty of caveats to revoke/restart it. While some of the local children, those of collaborators raised in Enclave schools and territory, are considered citizens, they are still well over a decade from being able to vote. While Governor Hans is arranging local elections that applicant citizens can vote in, these are low-level positions without much power. True power and voting rights within the Enclave/American government is decades away, at best.

-Captain Hans, from his position as Military-Governor, is the effective leader of the Enclave in Orleans: though not the highest officer, he's used his office as Military-Governor to drive policy and set up his own, locally-recruited forces that are under his command. He is an idealist by Enclave standards, even if his ideals are betrayed in execution or realities of war. A pleasant enough man in an occupation that requires an exceptional amount of unpleasant actions, one should never rely on the label 'idealist' without considering what his ideals actually are. He faces continual, if muted, opposition from Enclave purists, though there is an eventual coup attempt against him by Enclave purists that the player can influence. While he does sincerely believe in incorporating locals into the new American democracy, he believes it will need to be done well after the region is firmly under Enclave control.

-Belle is the executor of Captain Hans' will. While passing herself off as a Southern Belle, she's a handy-woman for any sort of problem, a cross between James Bond and Miranda from ME2. Her hiring of the player to get into the bayou marks the start of the game, and pursuing her marks the greatest part of Act 1. Was once a slave before Hans liberated her during the events of FO3, which is the source for limitless admiration and loyalty, and was herself the catalyst for his rise in power. Belle is the leading figure in Hans' personal problem solvers, a group of hand-picked Enclave personnel, marines, and locals who answers only to him.

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Author Note:

This is the snapshot of the Enclave, suitable for the newly arrived. There is far more to the Enclave in scope and scale further on, but if you were to ask Wastelanders 'what is the Enclave about?' this is close to what you'd get. A very mixed faction in many ways, and very much in a state of conflict between what it claims to be, what it is, what it was, and what it wants to be.

This iteration of the Enlave draws heavily on my musings on how the Enclave might have been played if had passed on the genocide and chose to be 'just' a militaristic authoritarian regime and joinable faction in FO3. Make no mistake- while while this Enclave is no longer firmly in the irredeemably evil, it's hardly noble and good. It is the aggressor, the invader, and its dark past is still living memory for some.

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Secret of the Bayou:

A common misconception of the Wasteland is that the Enclave occupation is run entirely by the Enclave. This is incorrect: the reality is that the size of the bureaucracy requires more bodies than the Enclave itself can provide. With educated Enclave needed for the Army or as scientists or engineers, the bureaucracy is largely staffed by collaborators who are overseen by selectively placed Enclave citizens. While professional bureaucrats (or maimed veterans unfit for active duty) provide guidance and oversight to ensure policy is followed, most of the day-to-day work and low-level administration is conducted by a small army of willing collaborators.


	4. Faction Introduction: Orleans

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Faction Overview: The Orleans Empire

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The city of Orleans has gone through two recent phases: the Orleans Republic, under the visionary guidance of the First Consul, and the current Orleans Empire, under the hand of Napoleon. The First Consul was a far-sighted politician who unified the city by politics with politics rather than conquest and set up institutions that would benefit the city for decades to come. His daughter took the city after the death of his father, christened herself Napoleon, took her own influence on the region.

Napoleon has subverted many of the greatest accomplishments of her father. Though publicly she blames the war with the Enclave, many changes predated the more recent war, exaggerating prior flaws and lessening prior vision. While Orleans had always been a slave-importer, under the First Consul slavery was regulated and steadily diminishing, while slaves were restricted to public works projects to improve the city for all and guaranteed emancipation and citizenship for every slave after five years of work. Under Napoleon, while slaves are still treated remarkably well by any standard of slavery, the need for more laborers but also soldiers has seen the trade explode. Where her father established a university and science projects to research new ways to help Orleans in peace, Napoleon has tasked it to research new ways to help Orleans in war. Her father re-established newspapers to inform the city: Napoleon runs them as her own propaganda bureau. Her father established a shipyard for trade and exploration on the seas: Napoleon cares more for controlling the river waters of the continent. Her father took the title First Consul at the consent of the City Assembly, an institution he cultivated: Napoleon declared herself Napoleon to the applause of many, and disbanded the Assembly during the war. Most damningly of all, the First Consul's vision of an egalitarian citizenry is being replaced by Napoleon's nobility system, with herself at the top.

This is not intended to depict Napoleon as a two-bit despot: she is, if anything, an enlightened despot, and her militarization (unintentionally) prepared the city to be able to resist the Enclave. While she was inspired to take the name of a historical warlord by the example of Caesar's Legion, she shares little else with Caesar. But Napoleon lived under the shadow of her father from birth to a decade after his coronation. The only way for her to emerge from under it is to do something equally or more impressive… and unable to match her father is politics or science, she turned to war and expansion as her great contribution to Orleans. First against the local pirates, then against the feral tribes of the bayou, then with an eye towards more distant lands.

Though it is easy to see how Napoleon is not the visionary her father was, it is easy to overlook at what she has accomplished despite circumstances. Napoleon has not only survived but maintained for years the war against the Enclave. She has maintained a significant presence inside the city when many thought the Enclave would drive her out. The Orleans nationalism she instilled still endures despite the war, and the Orleans culture resists the Enclave's attempts at re-education. She has succeeded at not only maintaining the active support of many of the peoples of the bayou, but in getting the Brotherhood of Steel to continue providing passive support for her people. It is very easy to underestimate Napoleon, and no one has been better at exploiting such low expectations than her.

Now, however, new developments are enabling a decisive turnaround, and a possible return to glory for the Orleans Empire…

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What to take away:

-Napoleon is not the man her father was, and everyone knows it. It's something of a sore point for her, given her own ambitions to be an equally or even more historic figure, though the two were very close despite political disagreements. Repeating the rumor that she murdered her father is a great way to gain a death sentence.

-The Orleans Empire was already well on its way to subverting many of the thing about the Orleans Republic that made it promising, but the war intervened and made it worse. Still, much of what was started remains, if altered. Napoleon is a nationalist at heart, and wanted to expand and strengthen Orleans, not destroy it.

-Napoleon has managed to continue her war against the Enclave for seven years, which is seven more than anyone else thought she could do. Unable to match the Enclave's strengths, she exploits their weaknesses, especially their treatment of ghouls and Governor Hans attempts to cast the Enclave in a good light. Orleans has a heavy contingent and support base from the ghouls, and many of Napoleon's advisors are ghouls as well making her rule something of a relative ghoul ideal. If Napoleon herself were to become a ghoul, the greatest objection most Orleaners would have would be in regards to a life-long ruler who doesn't die of old age.

-The crux of the Orleans Empire is Napoleon, and the crux of Napoleon is pride and glory. If the Orleans Empire can defeat the Enclave, she will be validated by history for having saved Orleans. If she fails, she will be remembered in disgrace if at all.

-For all that Orleans isn't what it could have been, it remains a good place to live when compared to most of the wasteland. Slaves clamor for the kind of treatment they get in Orleans, ghouls find it a near paradise compared to most places, the governance is about as fair as you can get in the wasteland, and Orleans soldiers are notably more pleasant to live under than Enclave troops (unless you're an Enclave sympathizer).

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Author Note:

This is the snapshot of Orleans, my first real attempt at devising a Fallout-appropriate setting from the ground up. I was interested in a low-technology faction, significantly lower than the quasi-20th century standards of the NCR, and I was interested in the misappropriation of historical figures and names for contemporary purposes. Orleans is a pre-industrial, even per-electricity level civilization. Once I decided on the location of the setting, of a post-Apocalyptic Louisiana and New Orleans, Napoleon and France were the obvious choices. The Orleans setting has heavy themes and principles of the Napoleonic Era, including Orleans being a colonial-ish outpost in a forbidden and untamed Bayou.

Napoleon herself was initially pictured as a male character when I was still was using the name as a placeholder instead of an actual character concept. When I was evaluating the setting for strong female leaders, including whether the Enclave was being led by a man or woman, the idea of Napoleon being a woman with just as much ambition as the man of history was just too interesting to pass up. Those references should have been scrubbed, but may still hide here and there.

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Secret of the Bayou:

Napoleon is just one in a wave of Wasteland leaders who have begun taking the names of historical figures to bolster their own influence. Caesar and the Legion, going from nobody's to nightmares in a single generation by modeling off the past, has been an inspirational success stories for many Wasteland strongmen. Taking names from history is something of a fad across the wasteland, being seen as a sign of culture, intelligence and history (to be able to evoke the name), as well as a spreading tribal belief that doing so grants you some of the power and ability of the persona you claim. Napoleon took her name not only because it was closely tied to French culture, which the First Consul was basing Orleans off of, but because Napoleon was not only a famed military leader but one who created both an empire and a dynasty. Obviously Napoleon hopes her dynasty fares better than her namesake's.


	5. Faction Introduction: Blue Waters

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Faction Overview: The Blue Water Monopoly

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The pirates are chaotic, complex, and inconsistent. This is because there is not one group, but a number of groups under two broad categories.

The Brown Water pirates are the river/bayou pirates that have always plagued New Orleans from the North. The oldest and the most diverse pirates, they hate Orleans (because Napoleon broke their once-formidable power), they hate the Enclave (on general principle), and they hate the Blue Water pirates (for moving in on their turf). The Brown Water pirates might be described as a collection of raider gangs… or a host of redneck families who attack anyone who gets too close. Blood feuds go back before the Great War in some cases.

The Blue Water Monopoly are the newer, more important, and more organized. A loose alliance of pirate groups, slavers, mercenaries and merchants, the Blue Water pirates have a virtual monopoly on all water travel through the Gulf. Unified under a corporate board of sorts for collective decisions, the de facto leader is Captain Supermutant, leader of the biggest, toughest, and strongest pirate group of them all (because it has all the supermutants). A mutant so clever that he has convinced all the other groups that following his designs is in their own interest, Captain Supermutant has an eye for the future. He is one of the architects responsible for the balance of power status quo that has maintained for the last few years.

While there have always been various boat-peoples who have sailed the coasts and Caribbean, trading or raiding for supplies and staying away from land-based radiation and dangers, they have never been unified before now. The original core of the Blue Waters, a small flotilla of traders who sailed together for mutual protection and support, encountered and were convinced to hire a group of supermutant sailors to provide protection for the flotilla. From that one deal, Captain Supermutant eventually created a commercial alliance and monopoly, gathering and recruiting other ship-born traders and mercenaries and crushing all opposition to the point of a practical monopoly on organized sea travel across the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts. During the decades of the First Consul rise he was consolidating his power over the pirates of Cuba and the East Coast, before gathering his consolidated forces to bring Orleans to heel.

Originally intending to shut down the Orleans merchant navy and shipyard for threatening their maritime monopoly, the Blue Water pirates arrived during the Enclave-Orleans war and set up shop in order to profit from the chaos. Selling their goods, slaves, and mercenaries to both sides at the same time, the Blue Water pirates have amassed significant influence as the primary kingmaker in the war. Neither the Enclave nor the Orleans can afford to push the Blue Water pirates too far towards the other, and both frequently hire from the pirates to boost their numbers. It's not at all uncommon for pirates to be fighting pirates… but when either the Enclave or Orleans seems to be getting too much of an advantage, it's also not unknown for the pirates to betray the stronger in favor of the weaker. The status-quo greatly favors the pirates, even as they increasingly become an accepted part of the Gulf Coast society, and Blue Water manipulation is the primary reason the war has continued for as long as it has.

The Blue Water pirates control nearly all coastal shipping reaching Orleans. They have a monopoly on the naval Aqua Pura trade from D.C., they are said to control the Pan-Atomic Canal and be able to trade with both Caesar's Legion and NCR. The Blue Waters hold a number of notable locations open to anyone with caps to spend: the best bazaars and the best entertainment come from the Blue Water pirates, even as the pirates hold a great coastal fort to harbor their navy. A few places of note include the Superdome, a converted oil-tanker and floating boat market off the coast, a key lighthouse on the coast, and the slaver market. The Blue Waters charge local navigators a protection/permission fee to sail in the Orleans area, including the Navigator.

Now, however, a local Navigators has been hired by a certain woman, and the status quo is looking to shift once again…

* * *

What to take away…

-The pirates are only loosely unified, the Blue Waters more than the Brown Water pirates. Brown Water pirates are raiders and attack on sight outside of their base. Blue Water pirates are the unscrupulous businesses who won't attack without reason, such as you not paying into a protection racket. Because they can be hired to fight each other one day and then be at peace the next, even at low reputation the Navigator can freely go to most Blue Water areas for a collateral fee.

-The pirates control nearly all trade on the Gulf Coast, and are open to business with all sides. A Blue Water Bar is about the only place you could find a ghoul, an Orlesian grenadier, an Enclave soldier, and a Brotherhood Paladin in proximity with only minimal fighting.

-The pirates are open to hire by both sides, and at the same time. If one faction seems to have too much of an advantage, the Blue Waters are organized enough to re-level the playing field. Neither the Enclave nor the Orleans love pirates, but at the same time neither can afford to overly antagonize them.

-This means that some Blue Water key interests, such as the occupied shipyard, are considered too sensitive to try and seize. Other locations aren't as important, and retaliations would be considered acceptable.

-The player character (the Navigator) is a local native who's paid the protection/permission fees charged by the Blue Waters in the past. This is akin to buying protection from the mob, in that it doesn't necessarily indicate your loyalties. Every game month or so once the player has the boat, unless the player has a positive-enough reputation with the Pirates, a Blue Water enforcer will come around and charge a flat fee (X00 caps) for permission to keep sailing.

-If a player becomes too reviled by the Enclave/Orleans then the player is associated as being with the pirates by default, regardless of reputation with the pirates.

-The pirates are always a faction the player can side with if he/she pisses off everyone else, but have only one required story mission (going into their coastal fortress). The story missions will still come from the Enclave or Orleans even if the player has bad reputation, but under the context of that you are another pirate to hire. However, managing your ties to the Blue Waters will affect the game, the ending, and epilogues significantly.

* * *

Author Note:

This is the snapshot of the Blue Waters, probably the hardest faction to devise. I knew I wanted a pirate faction to emphasize maritime elements and themes, and the idea of a supermutant in a pirate costume was too good to pass up, but 'corporate raider' took new meaning as the idea evolved. The Blue Waters gradually became plot clay and narrative devices to fill in a lot of questions and difficulties of a more scripted plot. Why is Orleans at a stalemate for so many years? Who can sail the region without being blown up by Enclave vertibirds? How can merchants in the region sell stimpacks and radiation meds and other things if Orleans would have burned through them long ago? How can merchants provide gear for the player that doesn't fit the themes of the dominant factions, especially conventional guns and armor? How does the plot advance if the player doesn't want to side with either the Enclave or Orleans?

The answer became the Blue Waters- a faction that could bring about and keep a balance of power, and always have a space open to hire even the most depraved, reviled Navigator as canon fodder. Other benefits came with them as well- foreign trade, the foreign news, and pushing the boundaries of the continent to explore the world outside the US.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Blue Waters are the first major unifier or what has been a small but constant presence since the Great War: boat peoples. Avoiding the radiation and raiders of the land by staying out to sea as much as possible, small boats have clung to the coastlines for decades. Few are truly seaworthy, though, and fewer still would brave the oceans: though the very rare individual claims to have crossed the ocean and come from abroad, none have been able to prove it. The Blue Waters represent a re-emerging age of sea travel and exploration, though, and some believe that ocean travel to circumnavigate the world is less than a lifetime away.


	6. Faction Introduction: Minor Factions

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

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Faction Overview: The Minor Factions

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Brotherhood of Steel

A relatively recent arrival to the Gulf Coast region, dating to the era of the First Consul. The Gulf Coast chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel traces itself through the Brotherhood Outcasts of D.C.: as salvage opportunities dwindled and the area became less tolerant of the Outcasts, the decision was ultimately made to depart and go to the Gulf Coast, where records indicated relatively untapped stores of pre-war technology. The Outcasts left D.C. and struggled through the Bayou, suffering many losses along the way, before finally reaching Orleans during the time of the city's consolidation.

Despite the Outcasts' disdain and xenophobia, the First Consul was ultimately able to find common ground and prevent a conflict. Having no interest in the advanced military technology the Brotherhood prioritized, the First Consul invited the Brotherhood to gather and guard the dangerous pre-war technology across the region and even provided them help in the gathering of the technology. In exchange, the Brotherhood was quite happy to remain uninvolved in Orleans politics, to help pacify energy-weapon using gangs that were likewise threatening the First Consul's efforts, and after some time even offered small amounts of technological help to the First Consul's reconstruction efforts. It was an arrangement that gave the Brotherhood much in exchange for very little they wouldn't have done regardless.

What followed was a period of peaceful ties and recovery for the Brotherhood. The arrangement with the First Consul was in many ways a vindication of their philosophy: the nascent Orleans was free to grow and thrive in peace, protected from the threat of advanced technology that the Brotherhood kept safe. To help replenish their numbers lost to the Bayou and expand their ranks, the Brotherhood even began to practice adoption and assimilation of orphans, bringing them up within the Brotherhood, a policy that met the full support of the First Consul for giving the most vulnerable a chance at a better life. In this way initial contempt and disdain gave way to paternalistic ambivalence, and when the First Consul passed away even the Brotherhood sent an honor guard out of respect.

Ties cooled with Napoleon, who was less indulgent to outsiders than her father, but briefly rekindled when the Enclave invaded. Remembering the threat of D.C., the Brotherhood rallied and proved instrumental in the first years of the war to preventing an Enclave victory. Brotherhood-salvaged anti-aircraft guns mitigated the Enclave's vertibird advantage and turned lower Orleans into a warzone.

Ultimately, the war overstretched and exhausted all parties, and the Brotherhood was dangerously close to being wiped out. When the Blue Waters arrived and began to intervene, Governor Hans saw an opportunity and struck a cease-fire agreement with the Brotherhood. This left the Enclave free to consolidate their gains in the south, and the Brotherhood time to rebuild itself.

Now the Brotherhood is a neutral party in the war, rebuilding its strength but uninterested in jumping back into the battle for the sake of Orleans. This has led to generational friction between the old guard and new blood- the locally recruited youth especially identify with Orleans and Napoleon, and would prefer the Brotherhood join the fight against the Enclave once again.

The Brotherhood ultimately has three end-states: they are wiped out (unavoidable with the Enclave), undergo a coup to leaders who swear loyalty to Napoleon (Orleans route), or are spared after sensitive technology is stolen from them (Blue Waters only).

* * *

Witchdoctors

The Bayou Witchdoctors are an unorganized but significant for in the Bayou. Cult leaders, shaman, and Bayou chemists and doctors, the Witchdoctors have secured a reputation for spiritual mysticism and wisdom that is both respected and feared across the Gulf Coast. The Witchdoctors, from their reclusive haunts deep in the wasteland, have mastered many dangerous and exotic arts from hallucinogenic and compulsive drugs to alleged necromancy.

Located in the midst of the bayou with only sparse groups of tribals around the Witchdoctors are factitious and selfish, each looking to advance his or her own power base at the expense of their rivals. The witchdoctors have no formal power, as the few major population centers in the Bayou are all dominated by more secular strongmen, but collectively they have considerable cultural influence. On top of the fear and obedience of the superstitious tribals, the Witchdoctors also have the power of necromancy and voodoo magic, mysterious (and ultimately scientific) processes that allow them to turn any human into a ghoul, and in turn make any ghoul (sane or feral) into a pliable voodoo-zombie slave. Witchdoctors are known to send their servants kidnap and seek more subjects for conversion, ever increasing their power.

In the context of Orleans, the Bayou Witchdoctors are neutral-minded actors who would prefer to play both factions off each other. This works to varying degrees, but not as well as they might hope. Orleans and its new imperialist tendencies often overshadows and threatens the influence of the Witchdoctors while impressing their tribal subjects, while Enclave attentions and investigations have removed much of the mystery and mysticism behind their actions. Of special interest to the Enclave is the necromancy and voodoo processes, which ultimately form key components of the Enclave superweapon.

* * *

The Hidden Village

The Hidden Village, likely to be remembered as the Ninja Village is a village of spies and assassins hidden along the coast. Originally a pre-war Japanese movie set placed in the artificial hills east of the city, survivors of the Nuclear Holocaust established themselves there and soon emulated the depiction of society that was left behind. While keeping their settlement hidden via secrecy, the Ninja would go out into the city and Bayou for whatever was needed…and actual ninjas would obviously dress as perfectly normal wastelanders, not in flashy costumes and uniforms.

The Ninja have a long but generally unknown history in Orleans, where they have infiltrated the society and manipulated it to keep their village safe. Any time a strong man might have conquered and unified the city by force, the Ninja have assassinated them to prevent unity. It wasn't until the nobility of the First Consul won them over that they helped the unification of the city from the shadows, before quietly slipping away to their own business.

Now the Ninja have secretly offered their services to both the Enclave and Orleans, spying for both on the other so that no matter which faction wins control of the city, the Ninja will have value and be spared. Despite this, the Ninja remain a myth to the vast majority of the city. Very few people outside certain circles of the Orleans and Enclave governments know the truth of their existence, or how to contact them.

At the time of the game, the Hidden Village has been discovered by the Blue Water Supermutants, who intend to wipe it out in retaliation for past actions. The player can support or oppose the Blue Waters here. If they save the village, though, the Ninja will promise to fully support the Navigator's faction.

* * *

Followers of the Apocalypse

The ultimate do-gooder faction has made inroads as far as Orleans, but has seen better days. Yet another early supporter of the First Consul, invited and encouraged to establish a presence in the city's rebuilding, the Followers appreciation for the Consul's non-coercive liberalism was soon dashed by Napoleon's progression to militarism and authoritarianism. Napoleon in turn distrusted and disliked them, as the Followers' leadership became an early and vocal critic of the transition to empire. When the Followers' leader made the mistake of assuming they had more public support than Napoleon and openly demanded Napoleon step down, the Followers were arrested and ejected from the city to the cheers of many nationalistic Orleaners.

The Followers remained in the region, but never regained the level of relevance or public support they had before. They would train doctors, but few wanted to join. They would treat people, who preferred to return to Orleans. As time went on, the Followers atrophied resources and supporters and even suffered a schism, as many of the disillusioned were led to join the naturalist PEEWE.

Now the Followers run a clinic at the Raceland refugee camp. Operating under the auspice of the Enclave, their position is fragile: the Enclave welcomes their assistance in treating Enclave-aligned residents and provides resources they desperately need, but won't provide support to treating neutral or Orleans-aligned refugees.

The Followers are bitter at the exploitative relationship, but have little choice: when a group of Followers were caught stealing medical supplies for non-critical Enclave residents to save the lives of critically injured Orleaners, the Enclave executed both the doctors and the patient for theft and subversion. The Followers resent becoming dependent on the Enclave and being little more than tools, but have no other patron to support them.

Ultimately the Followers quest involves finding more resources for them, and possibly giving them a measure of independence from the Enclave (albeit at the cost of becoming dependent on someone else). While Raceland will remain an Enclave refugee camp regardless, the Followers can get more supplies for other refugees if you strike a bargain with a potential patron. An Orleans Noble, who will provide support and forgiveness from Napoleon in exchange for working in the Orleans district of the city. A Blue Waters Captain, who wants to hire the Followers and have dedicated support for his ship and company. Even the Enclave itself: in exchange for open political support for Hans and the upcoming Enclave Elections, the Governor is willing to increase the supplies for the Followers and give them some autonomy for how they use the increase.

Ultimately the Followers never regain their standing and independence, which leaves them as a pretentious but ultimately impotent force for good, always ruminating on how much more they should be listened to but always depending on someone else to enable them. The Followers outcome also depends on whether they get support from the ultimately victorious faction: retribution or cold apathy will result if the Followers embrace the rivals of the ultimate winner.

* * *

PEEWE: People for the Ethical Enjoyment of Wasteland Environments

PEEWE is an environmentalist group. PEEWE is not an environmentalist group. PEEWE is an animal rights group. PEEWE is not an animal rights group. PEEWE is an anti-development group. PEEWEE is not an anti-development group. PEEWE is a silly name PEEWE is not- no, pretty much everyone agrees that it's a silly name, but ever sense the Enclave popularized the acronym the name has stuck.

PEEWE is a splinter group turn offshoot of the Followers of the Apocalypse. Disillusioned with Humanity for turning away from the First Consul and against the Followers in favor of Napoleon's nationalism, these former Followers devoted themselves to a nobler, selfless, and appreciative target of their efforts: Mother Nature. Advocating a more enlightened, sustainable co-existence with the wasteland, PEEWE advocates an approach to living akin to the peace and harmony of nature.

Considering that most of the Bayou wildlife, and even some of the plants, will kill you if you give them a chance, this neo-tribalism environmentalist movement is about as popular as you'd expect. It is tolerated more than the Followers, however, because for all the kookiness it is generally deemed harmless and even modestly beneficial. PEEWE scientists and members have spearheaded conservation efforts to make better and more efficient use of Bayou resources, awareness to Bayou dangers to mitigate the threat, and research efforts for new and valuable uses for Bayou resources.

Combined with their tendency to go off to the Bayou on hermetic communions with nature that not only get them out of sight and mind, but also often resolve the issue of particular figures, the benefits of PEEWE at least equal the regular nuisance they make of themselves. PEEWEs, full of activism energy and good intentions, can be counted upon to protest just about any reclamation project or industrial effort, any domestication of nature, and pretty much anything and everything most people would find uncontroversial. Some of the more radical PEEWE subgroups will protest hunters and gatherers from the Bayou for actually, well, hunting and gathering from nature. The difference is often the matter of degrees, from biased but reasonable to outrageous and ridiculous.

The more radical and silly wings of PEEWE often eclipse the reasonable if reclusive sensible core: good people who believe in working with nature rather than against it, and that the Bayou should be respected and utilized as an ally rather than opposed and exploited as an enemy. PEEWE has no real strategic value or relevance, but earn their approval and they can share some valuable crafting concoctions and recipes.

* * *

Gulf Coast Regulators

A private vigilante group that has existed in the Bayou since long before the First Consul. Like their brethren in the Capital Wasteland, the Regulators are well intentioned people who have dedicated themselves to helping the good people of the wasteland by killing the bad ones. Considering that every organization has its good and bad apples, though, this has brought them into conflict with all the major factions.

The Regulators are an organization in decline, a legacy of the bayou frontier spirit that has diminished with the establishment of civilization. Once lionized and honored as a force for good, early and proud supporters of the First Consul and key ally against the bayou pirates and gangs who threatened the early Orleans, the current standing of the regulators with the public is something else: awkward, uncomfortable, even embarrassed if not openly opposed. Once, when the Regulators were the only source of law and order, a Regulator could confront a perpetrator in the open streets and shoot them dead, and no one would bat an eye. Now, with police to handle such criminals and the return of laws and enforcement, such an action is sooner to get the Regulator arrested and tried.

While the Regulators still have significant support from the populace, especially in their confrontations with war criminals, the factions as a whole oppose them. What the Regulators see as a crime can easily be seen as a fact of war or even a legitimate function of governance. What the Regulators have called theft and extortion, the Enclave has called taxation behind enemy lines. What the Regulators call arbitrary despotism, Orleans calls the role of the nobility. What the Regulators call raiders, the Blue Waters call mercenaries on contract.

The Regulators have picked fights with all three factions, and generally lost. Now the regulators exist out in the Bayou, only occasionally making inroads to Orleans, and are focused more on frontier justice than the overall conflict. Their arch-nemesis, however, is Littlehorn and Associates, the Blue Water associate from the Capital Wasteland dedicated to spreading evil and opposing good.

The Regulators factional quest involves confronting evil-doers, including villains from all three factions. One of the key points of the quest line would be that 'justice' doesn't require the Regulators to be judge, jury, and executioner themselves: in all cases involving a faction, there is a way to have the faction itself address the criminal within their own system, and in a way that doesn't lose reputation for attacking their members. On the other hand, some of these criminals would be the sort you truly want to kill, and the punishments the factions hand out may not be enough to satisfy you. Depending on the way the player handles these evil doers, whether killing them or prompting their factions to punish them by their own standards, the Regulators will take away their own lesson.

If the Regulators learn to have faith that other organizations can carry out justice against identified criminals, the Regulators step away from being the executioners and take a path of being more like private investigators, identifying criminals so that the police can handle them. In doing so, the Regulators regain public respect and a measure of suspicion but tolerance by the factions, and so manage to survive openly regardless of the victor.

If the Regulators have no faith that the factions will carry out the justice deserved, the Regulators will keep being executioners- just more carefully. The Regulators go underground and undercover, killing evil doers subtly and quietly and not staying to give a target for retaliation. The Regulators only earn more official ire and antagonism, but become a romanticized group of retribution assassins who avenge the innocent.

* * *

Littlehorn and Associates

Daniel Littlehorn is one of the richest, most influential, and evilest men in the wasteland. A prominent investor and partner in the Blue Waters, owner of the feared Talon Company, and a veritable entrepreneur in the field of evil, Littlehorn and Associates has brought about great and terrible things through the power of greed and cold hard caps. No one knows why Littlehorn started on his path, only that he takes a perverse pleasure in ensuring bad things happen to the better people of the wasteland.

Littlehorn had its hand in the formation of the Blue Waters Monopoly, both as an early investor and in the formation of the Monopoly's core of enforcers. It was Littlehorn and Associates who sought out Captain Supermutant and raised the prospect of recruiting from the Supermutant Army of D.C., and it was Littlehorn who arranged for the recruitment and departure of Talon Company along with the mutants during the same. Both were remarkably well timed investments, coming shortly after the war between the Enclave and Brotherhood but before the victor could marshal their forces to destroy the mutants. Relocating his business to the Blue Waters flotilla, Littlehorn has been a proactive backer of the Blue Waters monopolistic no-competition clause and its recruitment of pirates and raiders as mercenary companies. Littlehorn has a way of always finding a deal that makes sense, yet always leaves someone else worse off. Still, his ability and his vision, and his investment, give him value to Captain Supermutant and the Blue Waters.

Having established a new office in Orleans' Bourbon Street, Littlehorn is expanding his business once again. Selling revenge and spite, with a personal project of nurturing corruption in the hearts of mankind and seeing his influence spread even further, Littlehorn's business is sadly always in demand. It is also always in danger, as he has made himself the avowed enemy of the Regulators… but that's a business risk he's happy to take.

* * *

Red Lantern Network

The subtler hand of Napoleon's security apparatus, and one of the secret forces behind Napoleon's rise to power. The Red Lantern Network is the more impressive name for the sorority of whores, prostitutes, and professional mistresses of Orleans. Led by the Madame of the Red Light District, this guild of ladies (and gentlemen) of the night have places all across Orleans, below notice and hearing more than the unaware realize. Countless pillow talks, eavesdropping secrets, and deliberate discoveries make their way back to the Madame. Countless rivals have been laid low or blackmailed thanks to a careless word in the presence of a prostitute.

Napoleon has a long history with the Madame, long enough that she considers the matron a friend and advisor. When Napoleon was a young girl and the First Consul left on his expedition to Point Lookout, he left her with the Madame to look after her. Raised by whores, Napoleon learned much from them and held them in unusually high respect. While the First Consul respected the night workers and sought to help them away from the life, Napoleon legalized the profession and enacted stiff penalties against those who would abuse or disrespect them. While some criticized this, many of those who entered the profession by choice or necessity appreciate the modicum of respect and protection they are now entitled.

Napoleon has looked out for the lowest of women and their male counterparts, and many of them sympathize and support her and return, especially in light of the Enclave and Blue Waters' less generous views of them. Prostitutes exist across Orleans in all the boundaries, and many have subtly sought out and passed on important information to the Madame. This has made the Madame a proven, reliable, and valuable supporter of Napoleon, and the de facto leader of Orleans' intelligence capabilities, an influential position that allows her even better influence to direct and protect the guild of street walkers. It is a relationship of mutual benefit and mutual affection, and one that has served Napoleon well.

* * *

Enclave Marines

The Enclave Marines are a long-hidden part of the original Enclave conspiracy that has been reactivated and rejoined the main Enclave since the disaster of the D.C. campaign. Picked from the USMC for loyalty and fanaticism to the government, the Enclave Marines were intended to be the military enforcers to ultimately accompany the Enclave's colonization ship that would escape Earth's inevitable destruction. When the bombs fell they sealed their vault and went silent, waiting for the Enclave's signal to reactivate and emerge.

Hidden deep in the Appalachians, the Marines' absence to date has been a consequence of location and lack of opportunity. When the Enclave was still located on the Oil Rig and Navarro on the West Coast, the Marines were too far to provide any relevant support. When the Enclave intervened in D.C., the speed needed to capture and capitalize on the Water Purifier was deemed too short to warrant mobilizing the Marines from their sealed bunker. Once the Enclave was thrown back it was far too late.

Now, however, the Marines have mobilized and provided invaluable and indispensable forces for the Orleans campaign. Enclave Marines, using specialized but less advanced marine power armor, have distinguished themselves with their extreme esprite de corps and ferverent loyalty to Uncle Sam. Still a novelty and mystery to many in the Enclave Army, they conduct independent operations behind enemy lines and on an isolated front, but are none the less unshakably loyal to Governor Hans, their official commander.

* * *

Enclave Marines (The True Spoilers Version)

The Enclave Marines are in fact a long-lost part of the original Enclave conspiracy that had been lost and distorted in time. Picked for loyalty and fanaticism to the government, the Enclave Marines were intended to be the military enforcers to ultimately accompany the Enclave's colonization ship that would escape Earth's inevitable destruction. When the bombs fell, their bunker's communications went offline after a near miss and it was assumed by the Enclave that their bunker had been destroyed and lost, like so many other pieces of the conspiracy that didn't make it.

Fortunately, the Marines survived. Unfortunately, they soon violated the Enclave's genetic purity protocols. Having extra space but no women in their bunker, the Marines opened the Bunker to accept small numbers of desperate survivors (both men and women) into the bunker, letting both radiation and contaminated genetics into their midst. Over the next two centuries, as radiation layers fell and population needs changed, the Marines would re-open the bunker doors to send Marine Recon scouts out to scout the wasteland and bring back fresh blood. By the time of their rediscovery by Governor Hans, the Enclave Marines were only somewhat less mutated than the outside wastelanders the Enclave loathes.

To make things worse (from a Purist's point of view), the Marines degenerated socially as well as genetically. Whether from the influx of wastelanders or from the stress of prolonged confinement, the Marine Corps esprit de corps and hyper-nationalism they were chosen for turned into a functional religion. Uncle Sam became a prophetic figure, America became the past and future promised land, and somewhere along the way a prophesy began. One day, Uncle Sam would return in order to return and lead the country back to the promised land of a new America, and on that day Uncle Sam would need the Marines to do it.

Nearly two hundred years after the bombs fell, a young Enclave lieutenant frees a group of slaves from a group of slavers while retreating from the disaster of D.C. He is defeated, disappointed, and has little hope of ever seeing his sister again, even though she recently had a child. His name is Samuel Hans, and one of the slaves he rescued is a Marine Recon Scout known as Belle.

When Belle escorts him through the Wasteland and to the Bunker, Uncle Samuel Hans finds himself a prophet with a bunker of trained and power-armored equipped Marines willing to follow him with religious devotion. An army of tribals, yet so civilized that aside from their peculiar religion they could pass for a lost bunker… disillusioned with the Purist failures and finding the Marines' senior leaders willing, Lieutenant Hans makes plans. He knows of Colonel Autumn's views, and of like-minded officers high up in the reforming High Command. With a few deals struck, a few careful deceptions, and a gift it can't refuse by looking in the mouth, the Enclave is deceived into having another chance.

This is the secret of Governor Hans and Enclave Marines. A secret and deception that, if brought to light, would see the Enclave military purge Governor Hans and execute him for crimes against America.

* * *

Author Note:

This is the snapshot the most relevant minor factions. Some are familiar, some are notable sub-factions of the main factions. None are major players in the plot. All of these groups, even the ones associated with a major faction, would have their own separate reputation bar that would be mostly parallel to the interests and approval of their patron faction. Getting high approval with the Orleans spy network will, as a consequence, also get you considerable approval from Napoleon. But you can still gain high standing with the Blue Waters even if you get bad reputation (and good karma) from opposing Littlehorn.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

A meta-level look at the creation process between the original factions.

The Bayou Witchdoctors and Voodoo Zombies were a part of the setting design from the start, as much a part of the Bayou idea as cowboys are to the Mohave or DC Landmarks to the Capital Wasteland. While they're not exceptionally involved with the plot, they are a major part of the mystery and mysticism of the uncivilized regions where tribes and shamans dwell. There is the civilization in the city, and then there is the Bayou. Orleaners come and go, but the Voodoo live there as much as the dangerous beasts.

PEEWE is a bit of a low blow for what is basically the PETA of the Apocalypse, but not necessarily an undeserved one. While PEEWE is often played for laughs, it's more because of how the groups and factions in particular would view and scoff at a group that, at its extremes, would elevate nature in nobility and value over people. In a post-apocalyptic context in which the entire planet is effectively a death world, I'd expect that sort of environmentalism to be viewed with skepticism and bemusement. Get past the core, though, and there's some sensible truth and grounded morality behind the environmentalist credentials PEEWE- you just need to get past the true believers who oppose the hunting of dangerous animals killing travelers.

The Hidden Village, on the other hand, did start as a 'take that' to a certain group of people. The creation concept literally started as 'pirates vs. ninja' as part of the idea sketch for what a pirate faction (who ended up being the Blue Waters) could be used for. From there it came to musing on what the Fallout version of a ninja-themed faction would be. How would it start? Why? A hidden and appropriately-themed movie set seemed an appropriate enough start, but I didn't like the idea of overly flashy and 'modern' ninja you see in fiction. I thought it would be more appropriate, and humorous on the meta-level, if the ninjas were more historically accurate: fewer acrobats dressed in black throwing things and more people who look and act like regular wastelanders when spying and conducting assassinations, with no clearly visible traits that would make anyone think there's a Hidden Village. (Until they break out the ninja tools.) It would serve as a fitting anti-climax for people who get overly excited by the idea of ninjas, while still serving a role in the context of an overarching story. Do you need to win the trust and favor of a major faction? They send you off on a fools errand to find a Hidden Village, only for you to either end or recruit those spies and assassins they never really believed.

The subfactions provide the useful role of getting some of the secret and lesser known information and backstory of the factional leaders. All three subfactions have a theme of unpleasant pasts for the faction leaders, as well as a deliberate subversion of their public personas and aspirations. For Governor Hans, the Enclave Marines are the dirty and duplicitous secret behind his rise to power: stepping into and exploiting tribal superstition to rise within the Enclave, a secret that would see him overthrown if it came out. For Napoleon, her past of growing up in a whorehouse is a shameful secret that stands both against her grand ambitions, but also the myth of the First Consul: the idea that the ruler of the city might simply be a whore's daughter, with all that it suggests, goes directly against her desired stature and grandeur. As for Captain Supermutant, his deal with Littlehorn and Associates was a metaphorical (and possibly literal?) deal with the devil: money and power to fulfill the Captain's ambitions, in exchange for commercializing evil. Captain Supermutant is the least ashamed of his deal, and believes his Blue Waters can channel and mitigate the evils of the raiders in some way, but it certainly isn't the face the merchants and corporations of the Blue Waters wish to present themselves asl.


	7. Introductory Terms and Locations to Know

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Plot-Important topology, places, and terms of note:

* * *

Orleans: the mouth of the Mississippi. Whoever controls Orleans is in place to control much of the interior of North America. Heavily damaged in the war, Orleans itself is a relative island of safety in the radioactive waters of the Bayous and the Gulf Coast. It has an exceptionally large population of ghouls, and because of extensive radiation and chemical spills ghouls in Orleans are said to be a different breed of tough compared to ghouls elsewhere. Since the unification of Orleans under the Republic of Orleans, labor gangs have cleared up rubble, restored buildings, and built new canals across the city, making it increasingly habitable island of safety in a region of ambient radioactivity.

The Gulf Coast: Collectively the entire Gulf of Mexico, including the Caribbean Islands and western Florida down to northern South America. Locally referring to the US coastline areas. The Gulf Coast was badly hit during the war, and much of coastal waters remain radioactive to this day. Swamps and marshes are bad on the mainland, while the Caribbean Isles are largely unlivable radioactive sites populated by feral ghouls, mutant critters, and some tribes of cannibals. New Orleans is the first and only coastal settlement to rise to date: the challenges of the Gulf Coast not only include the radioactive coastline, but the new breed of creatures that have grown in it. The Masters of the Deep that make any swim in the Gulf Coast a favored form of execution by the sadistic, while the Bayou and Latin American jungles have any number of dangerous beasts and plants.

The Bayou: In the over two centuries following the Great War, nature reclaimed what man lost. Much of the pre-war city and local towns has been reclaimed by the swamplands, with bogs covering streets and surviving ruins hidden amongst the trees. The Bayou is a place of great danger, not only from the radiation but from the ghouls, mutant animals such as Deathjaws, and brown water pirates. But it is also a place of great wealth: plants and animals are critical resources for life in the city and all manner of crafting, while scavengers finding long-hidden pre-war treasures as the shifting environment of the swamp regularly covers and uncovers new unplundered places. While the waters contain a persistent level of ambient radiation, anywhere dry is generally safe enough. Scattered across the Bayou are countless tribes, living above the waters or in the precious pockets of dry lands. Individually minor, collectively the tribes of the bayou are a major source of support and recruitment for Orleans. 'The Bayou' is used to refer to the general area around New Orleans, in much the same way that 'the Capital Wasteland' or 'the Mohave' are used. The Bayou, as a mix of bog and swamp, extends much further.

The Canals: where D.C. had subways and Vegas had open streets and a monorail, the big in-city transportation system of Orleans is by the countless canals that criss-cross under the city. While large parts of the city above remains in rubble and impassible even in areas not being fought over, the canals started by the First Consul provide a relatively easy way for transportation across the city. Whether ditches, derelict sewers, or already-flooded subways, the slave-expanded Canals of Orleans provide relative ease of movement of people and goods to anyone with a small enough boat. Those who lack a boat can often hire one of the countless gondolas for a handful of caps.

BoS AA-sites: though the Brotherhood of Steel is neutral-leaning-Orleans in the war, it controls what is arguably the most important infrastructure in the city: the pre-war anti-air defenses. So long as the Brotherhood of Steel holds these defenses, the Enclave vertibirds are unable to take flight over the city, depriving the Enclave of one of its most decisive advantages. The Brotherhood maintains significant garrisons at these locations, in case of another Enclave attack, and the Orleans Empire maintains many of its holdings as much by proximity to the Brotherhood as by force of arms. The Enclave is so cautious about avoiding another fight with the Brotherhood that anywhere there is a Brotherhood outpost, Pirates or Orleans are sure to have a presence in the vicinity to be protected by proximity. However, the BoS does not help anyone in a fight, and will retaliate against any who attack them: tricking anyone into attacking a Brotherhood Paladin is a good way to get them killed without personal reputation loss.

The French Quarter: the French Quarter of New Orleans is the de-facto heart of the Orleans Empire. Protected not only by a garrison the Enclave hasn't been able to crack but also the proximity of two Brotherhood AA-sites, the French Quarter is where the pre-conflict soul of Orleans endures.  
Downtown: Downtown refers to the southwest of Orleans. A ways away from the coast itself, Downtown is under the unquestioned control the Enclave, and is where the Enclave manages not only its war effort but its ongoing attempts to administer the parts of the region it does control. Approaching a vision of the pre-war America the Enclave seeks to restore, bureaucrats and business men work in pre-war clothes work in the damaged office buildings, eat lunches in the restaurants below, and do the daily work of governance necessary for the war and rebuilding America.

The Projector: the feature that defines the skyline of Orleans in the same way the Lucky 7 did Vegas or the Washington Monument does D.C. The Projector was a pre-war project of excess and public entertainment: an enormous device that could broadcast on the clouds above, or holograms in a clear night sky. Based off of Tatlin's Tower, the Projector not only gives regular lightshows for entertainment, but the Projector is also the Radio Tower of the Bayou that can be heard everywhere. Whoever holds it can have their radio be heard by everyone, while the other suffers heavy difficulties in broadcasting. The mid-game plot climax revolves around a battle to take the station.

The Airship: another feature of the Orleans skyline. A pre-war military airship, it was salvaged and repaired by Orleans as a gift and peace offering to the Brotherhood of Steel. Unarmed but loaded with sensors, and completely dependent on the Brotherhood's AA-batteries for protection, it loiters across the city where vertibirds dare not fly as a symbol of the Brotherhood's ability to thwart the Enclave. The airship looks like those seen in Gotham in the class Batman: The Animated Series cartoon.

Disputed Territories: in the course of seven long years, territory has switched hands a number of times, while a number of Bayou groups remain torn between either side. The disputed territories refer to all the areas that aren't firmly under the control of either Orleans or the Enclave: these could be neutral villages both sides seek to win over or recruit from, or areas of land still contested as Enclave and Orleans patrols encounter each other.

* * *

Author Note:

A brief look at some of the places and things that will be referenced during the narrative. There were the places and terms most relevant to the initial design of the setting and city. The actual location roster is a couple dozen thousand words, iirc, so don't sweat this small stuff. Main story arc begins tomorrow.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

While the Brotherhood of Steel owns and operates the airship, it does so from Orleans territory and with Orleans assistance. It is a public secret that Orleans observers go up on the airship as well, and that the Brotherhood shares its data to help Orleans spy on the Enclave. Given the fragile neutrality of the Brotherhood, though, the Enclave won't force the issue on their own.


	8. Campaign Act 1: Where's mah boat?

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

Note: Acts refer to the general story-phase the player is going through. Naturally, (nearly) all side missions are available at any time the player wishes to go and do them.

The main importance of the acts is the ambient flavor dialogue and text of the state and progression of the conflict, and of the common wasteland encounters. In the same way that FO3 gradually raised the supermutants classes and changed them for Enclave, or how FNV cycled in the veteran Legion troops and NCR ranges, as the acts progress troop levels will increase.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Campaign Act 1: Where's mah boat?

* * *

The start of Fallout: Orleans begins as thus.

You, the Navigator, have been hired by a Southern Belle to go deep into the Bayou. You don't know your destination or why: you are being paid well for your discretion. After a recent streak of bad luck, this job could set you up for some time to come.

As the game starts, however, your boat is slowing to a stop: there are pirates ahead, and you must decide what you will do: fight your way through, or try and sneak around. Let us call these options fight and flee, and your passenger will cooperate with either.

If you attempt to fight your way through, in the battle that follows an explosion from a pirate's RPG throws you out of your damaged boat. The player falls into the Bayou, heavily injured, and as you sink below the waterline you see the pirates give chase as your passenger escapes with your boat.

If you attempt to flee, however, soon you meat a different obstacle: Orleans grenadiers patrolling the bayou. They spot you, and recognize your companion. They call her an Enclave Spy, your first hint that something else is going on… and they yell to you that you will be richly rewarded if you hand her over. She reminds you that she has already paid you, but promises double if you help her evade these Orleans soldiers. Let us call these options 'fight' or 'betray.'

If you attempt to fight your way through, in the battle that follows an explosion from a grenadier's grenade throws you out of your damaged boat. The player falls into the Bayou, heavily injured, and as you sink below the waterline you see the Orleans soldiers give chase as your passenger escapes with your boat.

If you attempt to betray your client, however, she beats you to the punch. Having already hidden explosives on your boat, she uses a detonator to trigger them, throwing you out. The player falls into the Bayou, heavily injured, and as you sink below the waterline you see the Enclave spy flee with your boat as the Orleans soldiers give chase.

Eventually, you will awake, having been rescued from the bayou by a kind-hearted soul… or rather a mad witch doctor who has patched you up as a test subject for necromantic experiments. With your character creator and character rolling complete, your tutorial is using your skill sets to escape before you can be made into a voodoo zombie. With your body once again under your control, it's up to you to find your lost boat and settle accounts.

* * *

Act 1's focus is-

-Finding your boat. An airboat for the Orleans bayous, canals, and Gulf Coast, while you can get anywhere in FO:O on foot or by paying for fare, the boat is your means to life and is the initial plot hook to travel the setting. The boat also represents an ease of movement otherwise hard to match. It is faster than you can run, protects you from water-radiation of the wet Bayou, can carry hundreds of pounds of equipment for you to let you do more scavenging, and protects you from water-traveling monsters. The boat radically enhances your ability to explore the Bayou and much of the wasteland.

-Initial exploration. Much like how Fallout: Vegas pushed you towards many of the small towns before you could reach Vegas itself, Fallout: Orleans would aim to push you to travel to a number of places as you track down your vessel. During this time the player is exposed to the world-building elements and initial exposures to make sense of the context of the game. An effective (but not absolute) barrier for straying too far off the beaten path is the ambient radiation over most the Bayou: even if you avoid over-powered monsters, without extensive preparations the player can suffer radiation death if they leave the radiation-free story paths.

-Joining the hunt for the Enclave Agent. The game goes like such: you want to find your boat. The Enclave operative, Belle, has your boat. Where that is remains up to you to find out, just as you have to find out who she really is and what she was up to. As you do, you'll find everyone with an eye on events is also looking for her: the Enclave to support her, the Orleans to capture her, the Pirates to follow her.

-Stumbling over the Bayou Cure. As the player catches up to her, the player realizes that Belle was attempting to recover something called the Bayou Cure before the ambush. The initial lead-in of a purely personal nature (recovering your boat) becomes tied to the matter of regional consequences. The Navigator is decisive in determining who receive the Cure, and thus begins the Navigator's involvement with the greater factions.

* * *

Act 1's climax is-

-Deep in the Bayou, you find the place where Orleans scientists hid the Bayou Cure before it was lost. Belle is there with your boat.

-The player is, as a matter of plot, accompanied by a temporary companion (a pirate guide who knows how to get to this place in the bayou) who works for the Blue Waters.

-As the player tries to track down Belle within the facility, just as the player finds the data-terminal with the information on the cure the player is alerted that both the Enclave and Orleans are approaching in force.

-After posing the player with a Big Choice, your temporary companion takes your boat and flees to safety, leaving you trapped in this facility and facing a second Big Choice.

* * *

Act 1's Big Choices are-

-The first choice presented by your Guide is a request to transmit the data on how to make the cure to the Blue Water pirates, so that they could make the Cure on their own. Due to the Enclave or Orleans removing the data from the Pip Boy, the player will not be able to deliver it later. Regardless of the decision, a Blue Water NPCs escapes with your boat, and promises you that it can be found at the Pirate Cove (either as a reassurance or a bitter taunt depending on the Navigator's choice).

The consequence of giving the Cure to the pirates includes significant approval points, as well as end-game/epilogue changes. Approval with the pirates is unlike most factions in that disapproval doesn't stop you from visiting pirate-areas in peace, but rather affects the end-game.

-The second choice the player is faced with is whether to side with the Enclave or Orleans forces entering the facility after Bella has activated the self-destruct sequence. Whoever you promise to give the Cure to will help you escape: whoever you don't will attack you. As the self-destruct and Bayou will kill the player if you don't side with one, ultimately the player is evacuated by the Orleans troops (by speedboat) or with the Enclave (by Vertibird), providing said faction with the Cure.

The consequences of which city-faction you give the Cure to is primarily reputation, and does not lock in any future alignments. The faction the player sides with grants a major reputation boost and pardon for prior crimes, and enables story progression with that faction in the Act 2 climax despite any future reputation.* The Navigator receives significant disapproval from the faction he/she sides against, but will normally have the opportunity to work to regain favor.

*If the player's reputation goes negative against the faction they side with in Act 1, that faction will still be willing to hire them as a mercenary for the climax of Act 2- in effect considering them a part of the Pirates, regardless of your reputation with the Blue Waters. In contrast, the faction you side against will only hire you in Act 2 if you work to regain trust and gain a positive reputation with them.

* * *

Author Note:

Short and sweet. The Fallout setting tells its story in the world, not the main narrative. There are some fancy conditionals that will play themselves out with time, though, and while this Big Decision doesn't prevent any future faction alignment it does have the potential for a major consequence towards the end.

Act 1 is a glorified tutorial section: if you follow the intended path, you'll only see a small part of the world map (to be laid out later). On the other hand, doing it will greatly open up the world map and give you some powerful exploration tools between your boat and the Cure of the Bayou. Players are encouraged to finish it first, but if they want to go out and explore the rest of the region they can. You can't initiate the Act 2 plot until you get your boat, however.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

One of the quirks of the Bayou is that Ghouls of the Bayou are known to be stronger than ghouls elsewhere in the Bayou. Thanks to the Bayou's poisons and chemicals and ambient radiation, a feral ghoul can quickly gain the hardening and strengthening that goes along ghouls baked in years of high level radiation. Witchdoctors and necromancers have known and experimented with this for centuries, trying to figure out how and why the Bayou gives strength. Tribals attribute it to a general Bayou Spirit.

As the Navigator rises in fame and power, questions will obviously rise as to how you can be as strong as you are. As you grow in power and level, the tribals and other prisoners of the Witchdoctor begin spreading a legend that your strength comes from that Bayou Baptism. The Enclave, Orleans, and Blue Waters think it might have been the results of the Witchdoctor's experiments when recreating you (and thus the character creator phase). It's plausible enough that the Navigator becomes an object of scientific interest, with a hope that the factions could produce their own Player Character equivalents.

Once the player is in the mid- levels, a random encounter from an scientist will begin. At first, he introduces himself as being aligned with the faction you have the highest reputation with and asks to do some medical tests. You can agree for some rewards or not. If you agree, however, over time he will keep coming back with more tests that have more serious costs in temporary debuffs. As the tests escalate so does his obsession. The first time you say no (and when he asks for your head, you have to), he goes off and leave... and later a hit squad from your most negative faction (or a Talon company squad if you have none) will come to take you back in a body bag for dissection. This serves as a variation and increase of the hit squads from FNV, and the increase will continue until you hunt down and stop the scientist once and for all.

There's no major plot relevance of the speculation, besides that it ties in to the Enclave's end-game, but it provides an interesting in-universe acknowledgement of the player's seeming inhuman abilities.


	9. Act 1: The Cure of the Bayou

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

This is an elaboration of a plot mcguffin that I felt deserved to be posted alongside the Act.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Campaign Act 1: The Bayou Cure

* * *

The crux of the first arc of the story revolves around finding your missing boat after you unceremoniously get knocked off into the Bayou. Finding your boat requires finding Belle, who ended up taking it. And finding Belle means finding what she was trying to get. And what she was trying to get after a long time searching was the long-lost Bayou Cure.

What is it? The fruit of the First Consul's research to try and make Orleans a more livable place. While importing punga fruit and general reconstruction have allowed Orleans to rise from the rubble, radiation still sharply limits lifespans and livability in the Bayou and radioactive areas outside the city itself. The Cure, lost at the time First Consul's death, is something that could change the entire face of Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

Strictly speaking, the Bayou Cure is a new sort of radiation protection to the high levels of ambient radiation. Radiation is the biggest obstacle to re-development not only in the wasteland, but especially in the Gulf Coast. While in the wasteland you can go to dry ground for non-radioactivity, Orleans is surrounded by the Bayou. While rad-x and rad-away can fix these, such medicines are virtually absent after centuries of scrounging. Only traders from afar carry them.

Instead, the First Consul studied one of the most radiation-prospering species in the wastelands, a species that not only survives in radiation but thrives in it: the common ghoul, which not only exists in radiation, but consumes it. Taking it one step further, the First Consul also researched how and why Ghouls go feral, in an attempt to stop that fate for Orleans' largest minority.

The Cure is basically a serum that can give anyone a ghoul's ability to metabolize low levels of radiation without the skin-loss and threat of going feral. Not a one-time remedy but an enduring trait, anyone who partakes the Cure would be safe from the lower levels of ambient radiation of the Gulf Coast and Bayou. Higher levels of radiation would accumulate faster than it could be metabolized, but even a partial immunity would be invaluable. It even helps preserve the sanity of ghouls, protecting them from going feral at high radiation levels.

With such a treatment, widespread colonization of not only Orleans, but the entire Gulf Coast could begin much more easily. As the serum requires products of the Bayou, Orleans would be perfectly placed to capitalize on a position of strength as the sole supplier of such a serum. More immediately, whoever has the cure could irrevocably shift the long-term balance of power in Orleans.

Finding the Cure has been a fool's-errand for all the factions. The Enclave and Orleans could trade the Cure for tribal allies and to win local support from the locals, greatly increasing their numbers and influence. The Blue Water pirates would like the cure so that they could establish permanent bases across the Caribbean, a base of operations that no land-empire could march on.

Finding the Cure doesn't quite determine who wins control of Orleans… but it has significant post-game consequences depending on who gets it, and it does serve as the catalyst for forcing a decisive showdown and the Act 2 climax.

Once the Cure has been found, the player can receive a sample as a bonus perk. The Cure reduces radiation gain by -.5 radiation per second, effectively canceling out ambient radiation gains from being in the swamp waters of the Bayou. Irradiated areas of +1 or greater are still unsustainable, but can be tolerated far longer. This perk allows far greater freedom of exploration to the player, as most of the Gulf Coast beyond Orleans and the Act 1 locations has ambient radiation Between the Cure and Punga fruit, radiation buildup is largely resolved.

* * *

Author Note:

Yes, it's basically a weaker form of the rad-absorption perk. However, FO:O has far more radiation exposure than most Fallouts, so it's a much more relevant factor. Ambient radiation, not high-level creatures, is the greatest barrier to exploring the Bayou before completing Act 1. Only narrow ribbons of dry marsh and roads avoid ambient radiation in the Bayou. Nearly a third of the world map has at least ambient radiation.

While the Boat is the plot hook for the Navigator starting the game, the Cure is the hook that brings the Navigator into the war and serves as the catalyst to breaking the status quo. The Cure is such a decisive long-term advantage (giving the Enclave local legitimacy or helping Orleans recruit armies of tribal allies) that not even the Blue Waters can negate it, which means that the faction that doesn't get it will have to either win the war in the short term or be doomed to lose. This provides the context for the escalation of the fighting, and the impending climactic battle.

Obviously, the player never has a chance to give the data to both Orleans and the Enclave. The factions that receive it removes it from the player and take it to their secure off-map bastions to process it and avoid theft: the Enclave to Baton Rouge, and Orleans to Gulfport. Even if you give the data to the Blue Waters, they won't share it: Captain Supermutant has longer term ambitions beyond Orleans itself.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

An early and never finalized idea of FOO was the idea of racial selection for the player: the ability to play as a ghoul or a supermutant. Playing as one would have changed how people interacted with you to varying degrees. Enclave racism and abhorrence would have been amped up to eleven while Orleaners would have treated you much the same as a ghoul, and playing a Supermutant would have been akin to playing a low intelligence run of FO2, where most people would be too afraid to give you quests unless you already had a positive reputation.

One of the advantages of playing a non-human would have been radiation advantages. Supermutants, on top of superhumanly high special stats (balanced by very restricted selection of equipment), would have innate radiation resistance bordering on immunity. Ghouls didn't have immunity per say, as much as a weaker rad absorption perk and bonuses for higher radiation. The danger of high radiation would be increasing chances of going feral, with permanent feral insanity at max radiation being a game over.

One of the considerations of the racial aspects was how the Cure would factor in. Obviously if you already have radiation counter-measures, the Cure wouldn't be worth much for you. There were considerations as to how it could give you a separate bonus perk (ghouls get a choice between high-radiation benefits, supermutants unlock having intelligence above 3), but the largest idea was being reputation and enabling you to side with Orleans and Enclave.

As the Blue Waters would accept you regardless, the racial restrictions could always be treated like the negative-reputation Navigators for plot progression purposes. Orleans, much more open to ghouls, made a decent contrast between the Enclave's anti-ghoul racism that would likely push people to avoid the Enclave anyway. But supermutants? Why does the Enclave work with a supermutant? Or Orleans, which hates the pirates (and all known supermutants in Orleans are pirates).

The answer became 'they don't,' and the solution became the Cure's pardon. At the start of the game, the Enclave and Orleans simply would not trust a supermutant. Getting the Cure to them amounts to a one-time genetic non-compliance pardon, and your only chance to work from neutral to gain positive reputation. If you ever gained a negative reputation with them again... well, that was it. No second chances, and you were stuck with the Blue Waters along the villified route.

As a idea, that's fun. Reactive, heavy on consequences, and not the norm. As a game mechanic, it's not so good design: extremely restrictive, both on the player and wasting a lot of developer resources for content that could not be seen by the player. While ghouls remain plausible within a video game, since the differences were mostly in dialogue, a supermutant playthrough is probably something that will have to be crafted by a game master for a tabletop campaign.


	10. Campaign Act 2: The Orleans Offensive

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

This is an elaboration of a plot mcguffin that I felt deserved to be posted alongside the Act.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Campaign Act 2: The Orleans Offensive

* * *

With the discovery of the Bayou Cure, the Navigator has introduced a new variable and catalyst that will reshape the conflict. With long-term impacts of the Cure expected to be decisive in terms of gathering support and influence for the holder, all the factions understand that the status-quo of the last several years is ending. The faction without the Cure will have to pursue a victory in the near-term before the Cure starts bearing fruit, while the faction with the Cure will have to withstand the upcoming assault.

As both the Enclave and Orleans begin to mobilize for a major battle, the Blue Waters are making their own preparations. With the quagmire changing to a decisive battle, the Blue Waters will have to leave the region soon, and quickly. Preparations are underway for everyone as an escalation of violence is imminent.

During this time, the Navigator has a reputation but is uncommitted. By the end of Act 2, this will change, and enemies will be made. Until that point, the Navigator still has to recover their boat from the Blue Waters and decide who they will support.

As the Navigator deliberates, storm clouds gather. Hurricane season is upon the city, the traditional season for major battles in this war…

* * *

Act 2's focus is-

-Tentative faction alignment between Enclave and Orleans. When the Navigator finishes Act 1, it's likely with a strong factional leaning one way or another. With the pardon and approval bonus guaranteeing at least one of the factions feels warmly towards the player, reaching out to the other power of the Enclave/Orleans duality requires deliberate effort by the player in order to change alignments. If the player doesn't wish to change sides, however, they can begin the climax mission (choosing between Enclave and Orleans) as soon as they recover their boat.

-Meeting the Blue Water Pirates. Recovering your boat is a story requirement, and it happens to be inside the Pirate Cove. If the player hasn't already done the quest to gain access, they player has to do so now, and in doing so meets Captain Supermutant, leader of the Blue Water Pirates, for the first time. The player gains the opportunity to begin working for the Blue Waters. Siding with the Blue Waters isn't settled in Act 2, but players can begin doing so now.

-Gaining access to Pirate Cove to get the boat may require help from Enclave and Orleans territory. The player may be guided to visit both capital sections in the city in order to figure out how to get entrance to Pirate Cove. This lead-in guides the player to encounter city leadership from the rival factions. This is not necessarily a requirement.

-Widespread exploration and side quests. With the recovery of the player's boat and the Cure, far more of the map is opened up the player: the boat not only enables speed of travel, but allows you to go far deeper into the Bayou and off the coast far more easily than the player could before. Now is an ideal period for continuing exploration and sidequests, in order to build up factional alignment.

-Final factional alignment (Enclave vs. Orleans). Once the player has recovered their boat, they can begin the climax of Act 2. The player chooses which faction they will support. The climax of Act 2 is mutually exclusive between the Enclave and Orleans, and guarantees factional alignment between the two by removing one of them from the end-game options.

* * *

Act 2's climax is-

-The Orleans Empire is seeking to launch a major offensive against the Enclave, either to capitalize on their possession of the Cure or to demonstrate their strength despite lacking it. The Navigator is hired to carry soldiers across the Mighty Mississippi, either Orleans attackers or Enclave reinforcements, and winds up in the fray.

-The offensive is timed to correspond with a hurricane hitting the coast, a period at which Enclave technology is most limited. The strategy is a high risk, high reward strategy that has both been successful and failed Orleans in the past.

-The culmination of the battle is an Enclave counter-attack over the Projector, the symbol of controlling the heart of the city. The Enclave has been expecting a Hurricane offensive, and long been planning its counter-attack.

* * *

Act 2's Big Choices is-

-Determining who holds control of the Projector at the end of the battle. Whoever won the battle has gained a significant upper-hand in the war for the city, making significant gains across the city and in the disputed territories. Consequences are the shaping of the end-game, the epilogue, and a cementing of factional alignments between Enclave/Orleans into Act 3.

-Betrayal of the faction you started with IS possible. You can sabotage the counter-attack or betray the defenses of the Projector if you so choose, and thus side with the other faction. Doing so gains you extra caps and approval, but no pardon and no forgiveness for past crimes.

-The mission ends with a two-week time skip as the aftermath of the battle and storm is felt. Changes around the city include the changeover of disputed territories, ambient conversations, newspaper articles, and the Projector-radio reflecting whoever is holding it.

* * *

Author Note:

Act 2's climax is a major battle in the center of the city, making it a cross between the Battle for Hoover Dam and FO3's liberation of the aqua purifier. No giant robots, but most of the combat can be handled by NPCs. The player can be involved in the fight, or just concentrate on running forces from one shore to the next. Getting upgrades for the boat, like increased armor, makes the mission much easier.

Act 2 is the portion of the game players are expected to spend the most time in, while being the potentially shortest of the main story acts. In theory the act could be as short as traveling from the Act 1 climax drop-off point, going to the Blue Waters base, and then signing up for the climax battle. While players would need to regain reputation with the faction they sided against in Act 1's climax, there is no equivalent for the FNV arc of visiting and recruiting almost all of the Wasteland's minor factions. The closest there is the Act 3 factional end-games, where the player is tasked to go across the wasteland to resolve things in the faction's favor.

This is because I consider FNV's extremely long mid-game a weakness to the overall tension of the war buildup. As the elite NCR Rangers and Legion forces would only become common late into the end-game after you addressed most the minor factions, I wanted the opportunity to race towards the end-game for players who were interested in accelerating the plot and the end-game world state. The Act 2 climax serves more like the arrival of the Enclave in FO3, a player-controlled transition between mid and end game that changes the status quo and increase the world map's danger level as new and dangerous troops come to the field.

One one hand, this makes the critical path shorter. On the other hand, is that such a bad thing? While Act 2 could use a modest sequence to help channel exploration in and among the city of Orleans, possibly requiring visits to the three main factions in order to get access to the Blue Water base, the phase of 'contacting major settlements of the Bayou' would really fall in the Act 3 buildup to the finale. The only minor faction I could see as warranting a mandatory Act 2 contact is the Hidden Village, for some mcguffin to get to the Blue Waters base and serving as a recruitment of an ally for your eventual faction, but that's it.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The major military forces of Orleans change over the Acts.

In Act 1, everyone is on the general status quo footing of a low-intensity conflict with fewer and smaller clashes. Orleans is dependent on militia, the Enclave relies on locally recruited security forces with power armor only at certain facilities, and the Blue Waters just have raiders and weak mercenaries.

In Act 2, mid-tier forces are being mobilized for the upcoming major battle. The Act 2 climax takes place during a stormy day during Hurricane Season. Hurricane Season is a historic time for Orleans offenses against the Enclave, to take advantage of the weather restricting Enclave technology. Orleans is fielding more and more Veterans, the Enclave mixes in power armor army troops with more combat-worthy guards, and the Blue Waters break out Talon Company. Come the finale you're seeing the major combat forces in play.

In Act 3, everyone is preparing for the end-game and breaking out their elite forces for the decisive finale. Orleans deploys the Royal Guard, the Enclave brings in its heavies and inferno troopers, and the Blue Waters deploy Supermutant Pirates.


	11. Act 2: The Boat

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Act 2: The Boat

* * *

The Navigator's Boat, and the initial plot hook to justify the Navigator's involvement with the initial story plot. Being the means of life for the profession, a navigator without a boat is just a less prepared wastelander, and not one with a great life expectancy in the Bayou.

A shallow-bottom airboat with a pre-war nuclear engine for power, the Boat can go just about anywhere there is stream worth the name, and there are rivers and streams or canals across the map. It is the primary and most advised means of traveling the Bayou: staying on the Boat will protect you from the radiation in the water, and provide protection from many of the Bayou threats. It also has limited storage space, allowing you to pile in more loot to carry back to traders.

The boat is a useful investment for the players. Starting as a basic airboat with little more than seats and a small equipment box that can hold a certain amount of loot, the player can invest in upgrades to make it more useful for combat and exploration. Upgrades are bought at the Shipyard from the Blue Waters, and the Navigator would lose use of the boat for the duration of the upgrades, a period that might be hours to a week in-game. Practical upgrades focus on enhancing your combat and exploration abilities. Cosmetic upgrades would be more about theming your boat like you could your FO3 house. Game masters can decide whether all upgrades are available from the start, or if some could be enabled as quest rewards or exploration finds. Say stumbling across a blue print for your enhanced engine, purchasing rare materials for upgraded fan blades, or even getting a free cosmetic upgrade as a reward for a quest. Any such quests to upgrade the boat should come from the Shipyard.

* * *

Combat in the Boat is a regular affair, and focuses on melee, ranged, and boat-to-boat fighting.

Fighting from the boat is an advantage against melee enemies. Most animals can not harm you at all from the water. Only a Bayou Bobcat might jump in from above, while Deathjaws have a powerful slam that can heavily damage your hull and knock down the boats passengers (or, if they're near the edge, knock them overboard). Humanoid enemies like feral ghouls will have to swim over and climb aboard, a period of exceptional weakness. Ranged weapons are effective against swimming enemies who can't fire back, while melee weapons get a contextual critical bonus against enemies climbing on the side.

Ranged fighting is more conventional. A boat starts with virtually no cover or armaments, but can be upgraded for modest cover and firepower to use against other targets. The greatest threat are heavy weapons and explosives: if they get into the boat, not only are they liable to do heavy damage to the player but they can quickly wreck the boat. Small guns and energy weapons, however, are less effective.

Boat-to-boat fighting will occur against pirates or some of the factions in the Bayou or off the coast. Enemies in their own boats will approach and engage and may even try to board, with different styles depending on their group. Enclave Marines mostly stay at a distance. Orleans boats will try to get in grenade range. Pirates are the most likely to actually try and board you, approaching close enough to jump directly on your boat for melee. Unlike your own, enemy boats can be sunk: a tactical advantage in the Bayou, and instant victory on the ocean once the Masters of the Deep finish off the enemy for you. If you manage to board the enemy boat without sinking it, however, you can claim it for a bounty from the Blue Waters with a beacon. Depending on the size of the boat, from Bayou canoos to ocean-side fishing boats, the bounty could be a few dozen to a thousand caps. (Trying to keep it without signing it over, however, will have it stolen and disappear once you leave it for any duration.)

The Navigator's Boat would be indestructible, so you never buy a new one, but could be damaged in combat or excessively rough treatment. Sufficient damage could come with a variety of weaknesses, depending on damage. Heavy hull damage could lower your speed. Bow-centered damage could disable a weapon emplacement. Taking on water (explosives landing in your boat) allows water-radiation to affect you on your boat. Damage to the pilot's chair and controls could make control sluggish and more difficult. Catastrophic damage to the nuclear engine could cause a nuclear explosion that, even if it doesn't kill you, radially slows you and leaves you with an extremely heavy repair bill in the thousands of caps. In general, the boat and its components should have HP equivalent to high-tier power armor: occasional engagements and small arms fire won't be a concern, but enemies who use heavy weapons and explosives are the real threat.

Repairs could be purchased from the Shipyard, or done by the player themselves with sufficient resources and skill checks. A high repair skill, sufficient scrap metal or electronics, and a welding tool (an upgrade option) would be a major money saver for do-it-yourself players. Fixing the nuclear engine could require a high science skill. Fixing the gun emplacement would tie into the relevant weapon skill. These repair checks would be a money-saving reward for players with the right skills and saving the right resources.

Boat travel can be done manually, or by fast travel. If you are sitting in the captain's chair of the boat and fast travel, your entire boat will travel to the destination. Boats can only fast travel to places with docks, making these key locations to find across the region

Boat tracking when you don't fast travel with the boat is a special concern, since losing your boat after finding it again would be an issue. A few potential mechanics could be used to help keep that from happening, as well as a quest for having your boat stolen.

-The Boat Transponder. A story item you get from the Blue Waters upon reclaiming your boat, this would allow you to always see where your boat is on the world map. Whether your boat is right where you left it, or stolen, this will show you where it is.

-Assign a Companion. You can task a companion to stay with the boat and guard it. The companion will do so until relieved. The boat is guaranteed to not be stolen if a companion is guarding it, even if left on an embankment.

-Temporary Docks. Across the map are various boat docks. They can be found at most river-side settlements, ocean points, dungeons, and so on. When you fast-travel as a boat, these are where you go. These are recommended departure points, as your boat will not be taken away from a Temporary Dock as long as you are in the local area. You can also tip a boat watcher (typically a child or local civilian hanging by the docks) ten caps a day to keep your boat secure, for no more than a week. Temporary docks are sufficient if you are doing local dungeon crawling or staying within a settlement.

-Reserved Docks. A step up from temporary docks. A dock reserved for you, your boat will never be stolen from one of these. They are only found at significant settlements, and are rewards for high approval, accomplishing local quests, or outright buying a permit.

-Blue Water Boat Fee. Mentioned before, the Blue Waters offer a service-extortion, charging you a few hundred caps each game month as a license to use your boat. You can fight them off and refuse to pay, but if you do pay their registration fee your boat is recognized as a Blue Water affiliate. People won't steal your boat if you leave it parked in the Bayou or on a river embankment. Instead, your boat will automatically be moved to the nearest dock if left unattended.

* * *

Grand Theft Boato: Boat Theft.

A semi-random quest in which your boat is stolen by raiders. Triggering when your boat is unsecured for a sufficient time (say, leaving it on a Bayou embankment and wandering away, leaving it in a temporary dock for too long), if you go back to your boat you'll find it absent and the Transponder will show it moved.

The first time it is stolen, it will be by Brown Water Raiders and taken to one of their outposts. You can peacefully enter their headquarters and negotiate its return, or you can go in guns blazing. This is the only time the Blue Water boat fee won't protect it from being moved to a settlement. Afterwards, if you don't have Blue Water coverage, it will be local raiders or criminals who will move the boat to the closest raider-affiliated temporary dock. The only peaceful way to reclaim your boat is to sneak in and sail away, or pay a bribe to a Blue Water to bribe the raiders for its return.

* * *

Boat Upgrades

Bought at the Shipyard, these optional upgrades enhance the abilities and survivability of your boat. Or just make it look cooler, if theming is your thing. Your boat can effectively become your home base, and is a major potential resource sink as you upgrade it to maximum capability.

* * *

Practical Upgrades

Boat Inventory Storage: Upgrade the storage container on your boat. Your boat starts with the ability to carry a modest amount of weight in its storage trunk and still fast travel. Upgrading storage can increase your storage capability, allowing you to carry around more loot off your person. Storage upgrades are along the lines of 100 - 250 - 500 lbs, etc.

Cargo Market Contract: A convenience upgrade that allows you to sell items directly from your boat's inventory storage to merchants. In exchange for a one time fee of a few thousand caps, you no longer would need to carry all your items from the boat to your purchaser.

Bed: Puts a bed on the boat, allowing the player to sleep. With the cabin house improvement, the Bed even offers the well rested perk from an owned bed.

Faster Fan: Upgrade the airboat's fan to move more easily. Faster movement and maneuverability.

Reinforced Sides: Adds armored sides to the boat. Provides modest cover from enemy fire, increases time enemies need to climb aboard boat, and increases durability of sides.

Reinforced Nuclear Engine Block: Significantly increases the engine armor of the engine block, allowing it to take more damage before going nova.

Cabin house: Puts an actual cabin wall and roof over the boat. Provides exceptional cover, makes boarding attacks by jumping harder, and prevents anyone inside from being knocked overboard by Deathjaws.

Weapon Mount: Allows a heavy weapon to be mounted on the boat's bow. The weapon will benefit from exceptional stability for aim and recoil. Intended for heavy weapons, such as machine guns or explosives. Ammo for weapon is stored in special ammo can underneath. Companions can use this weapon while Navigator pilots boat, making it useful for boat-to-boat fighting.

Point Defense System: An extremely expensive piece of pre-war tech that will shoot down rockets aimed at your boat. The most expensive thing to buy, and extremely expensive to maintain, the rounds it fires are rare, expensive, and cost almost as much as the missiles they interept. They're just cheaper and better for your health than the repair bills of a heavily damaged boat. Useful for late-game boat combat when enemies are packing serious heat.

* * *

Cosmetic Upgrades

Similar to the FO3 house themes. The player can deck their boat out in different ways.

Default: A post-apocalyptic theme. No factional indicators. The jury-rig nature of the additions stands out in the scrap metal sheets and welding.

Enclave: A sleek, dark, and smoothly curved theme that makes the airboat resemble a pre-war military airboat. Matte black and gentle curves and glowing green sensors give it an element of modernity and Enclave technology.

Orleans: A bright, colorful, and slightly bombastic theme with red, white, and blue dominating. The age of the boat can't be denied, but the bright colors make up for it with spirit.

Brown Water: An even more rustic, backwoods, hickish version of the default. Rust, wood, and savage trophies on the sides emphasize the hillbilly backwood nature of the jury-rigging.

Blue Water: An explicitly pirate-themed boat, even with a jolly roger. Has the most emphasis on wood outer coverings, making the boat look like something out of a pirate movie.

* * *

Author Note:

The boat is a potentially ideal way to travel, being up to three to four times faster than running and having various upgrades for convenience and utility. While it is restricted to the waterways, there are waterways almost everywhere on the map, especially the Bayou. Between the Mississippi River to the west of the city, canals within the city, and Bayou rivers and coastal inlets, there are very few places you can't get at least reasonably near with your boat. It's just a matter of whether the appropriate route is quicker than running directly there.

The boat is a tool and it is necessary to region some areas, especially off-coast ones, but it's still largely optional. If someone wants, they can do the classic dungeon raiding and fast travel back to town to sell... but why do that, when you can dump more loot onto your boat?

While you can't steal and keep anyone else's boats, you can play pirate and hijack them for profit. By turning them over to the Blue Waters for a bounty, the player can make a viable income from hoisting the jolly rodger, slitting throats, and taking on any faction's boat travel... at least so long as you can avoid their heavy weapons.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The renaissance of boat travel can be traced, like much of recent Orleans history, to the First Consul. The First Consul and his team were able to find a way to regain use of the pre-war nuclear car engines, turning potential nuclear fireballs on wasteland roads everywhere into a viable power source. Though the need for water-cooling makes their use away from water difficult, they have become a new source of powered water travel. The only place in the Wasteland with the knowledge and equipment to make these conversions is the Shipyard. When the Blue Waters came to Orleans, they did so with the intent of destroying the Shipyard. Instead they seized it, and now there is a lucrative import market as merchants ship in nuclear car engines from afar to be converted into invaluable boats.

The origins of the Navigator's boat is a mystery. It is deliberately left vague and up for the player to head canon, with vague and contradictory dialogue options for the player. Opportunism, inheritence, a past business deal gone well... even the claim that you won it in a card game.


	12. Campaign Act 3: The Orleans Armageddon

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Act 3: The Orleans Armageddon

* * *

The Navigator's influence has been decisive in the storm of war for the city's center. The war in the city has irrevocably shifted: even with the Blue Waters throwing a majority of their support behind the loser to try and balance the scales, the winner has gained the ground and position it needs to bring the war to a close. Whether Orleans prepares a march on Down Town, or the Enclave poised to thrust into the French Quarter, the stalemate in the city is almost over.

The conventional war irrevocably shifted, the conflict is reaching the truly decisive battle for the region as each faction prepares its trump cards to secure victory or avoid defeat. Superweapons, not soldiers, will be the decisive factor in the decisive battle of the war. Whether a last attempt to avert defeat, or the chance to affirm an unchallengeable victory, everyone is bringing out their elites and rushing their final preparations.

With the loser spurning the Navigator as a hated enemy to be blamed and never again trusted, the winner assumes they have the Navigator's de facto support as they complete their super weapon. Blue Water machinations, however, could yet throw the final battle plans into chaos…

* * *

Act 3's Focus is-

-Setting your final factional alignment. By the end of this Act, the Navigator's actions will determine what faction they side with: the Victor of Act 2, or the Blue Water Pirates. The Navigator is able to hold off a decision until the climax. Once Act 3 begins after the time-skip, all factions will bring out their end-game elite troops.

Whoever you sided against in Act 2 will no longer be willing to work with you for story missions. While you can work with them on side quests elsewhere and boost your reputation again, you can NOT side with them for the end-game.

If you sided with the same faction for both Act 1 and Act 2, you can side with them for the end of Act 3 regardless of reputation. (You may be a horrific troublemaker/murder/thief, but you are reliable enough pirate when they hire you.) If you did not, you can only side with the Act 2 Victor if you have positive reputation or if you expose the Pirate super weapon. This comes into effect with one of the last story Enclave/Orleans story missions of the game, completing their own super weapon.

You can always side with the Blue Waters if you so choose, regardless of reputation and past choices. The Blue Waters can act as alternate quest-givers for the Orleans/Enclave factional plot-critical, using you to support the ultimately victorious faction for the Blue Waters own advantage.

-Super weapons. Every faction in the game is pursuing a super-weapon gambit to achieve their victory. Most of Act 3's missions involve paving the way for the victor of Act 2 to use their super-weapon against the others (requiring location of Macguffins, handling of the Brotherhood of Steel), and trying to stop the other faction from using theirs (sabotage mission against the loser of Act 2). Both the Enclave and Orleans are unaware of the Pirate super-weapon: bringing it to their attention results in reputation changes and allows you to side with the faction regardless of all other things.

-The Brotherhood of Steel. It stayed neutral and out of the battle at the end of Act 2, and in doing so it lost much of the deterrence it previously had and is now just a hindrance. As a part of getting their own super-weapons to maximum effectiveness, all three main factions need the Brotherhood out of the way. For the Enclave, it means wiping them out: you can initiate a self-destruct of the bunker, or (for more approval and rewards) arrange to kill them all to capture their technology intact. This could be by a combat massacre, or arranging to sabotage their filters and poisoning the bunker. For the Blue Waters, Napoleon needs control of the AA guns: you can likewise kill them all to capture their technology intact, or you can support a coup that will bring the pro-Orleans faction to power who will man the guns willingly. For the Blue Waters… the Blue Waters are the only faction that doesn't need you to destroy the Brotherhood, though that is an option. The Blue Waters need some technology the Brotherhood happens to have and depends on, which you could conceivably steal and run away with. For all three factions, the non-combat solutions are by far the easiest if you gain reputation and the Brotherhood's trust: betraying the Brotherhood is the 'expected' path. However you do it, the change to the Brotherhood of Steel radically upsets the local balance of power, this marks the last mandatory story mission before the end-game climax.

-Pirates alignment. The Blue Waters are always open for business: no matter the player's reputation with the Blue Waters as a whole, they are willing to use you. This makes the pirates the back-up faction of last resort if the player completely alienates themselves from Enclave/Orleans entirely. There are consequences to bad Blue Water reputation and history, affecting the outcome. The critical factors for your pirate outcomes are (1) reputation, (2) did you give them the Bayou Cure, (3) did you help them complete their super weapon, and (4) did you expose their super weapon?

A fifth variable of choosing to unify the Blue Waters and Brown Waters has important ending-implications, but does not affect your fate with the Pirates.

* * *

Act 3's Climax is-

A zombie apocalypse triggered by the Enclave. Well, a Orleans Ghoul/voodoo zombie apocalypse.

The Enclave's super-weapon is their new means to control feral ghouls. Similar to Deathclaw controllers, the Enclave is able to remotely control Ghouls that they've been capturing. From their own science and studies of the Bayou Necromancers, the Enclave has figured out how to replicate the Bayou's effects that make the Ghouls of Orleans so much stronger than normal ghouls. The Enclave unleashes its zombie army regardless of all other choices, whether as a complete superweapon or as a last-ditch effort to snatch victory from defeat.

In an anti-Enclave scenario, you sabotaged their chemical-factory that made the chems, and so the ghouls are of overall weaker quality, being blown by Orleans explosives. In a pro-Enclave scenario, the ghouls are frighteningly strong, over-running Orleans and doing much of the fighting for you: you'll see ghouls tearing apart Brotherhood Paladins, withstanding most things short of heavy weapons, and always at least two more for every one that goes down.

The Orleans superweapon opposing the Enclave is the Blimp. More specifically, the blimp equipped with a mirror system to reflect the surface-to-air lasers from Brotherhood AA sites back down as precision artillery. The same batteries keeping Vertibirds out of the sky will decimate enemy armies from above.

In an anti-Orleans campaign, destroying the Brotherhood of Steel dooms the Blimp. Without the anti-air of the Brotherhood stations, Vertibirds are able to shoot it down after only a few reflected barrages into the zombie hoard. In a pro-Orleans campaign, you either convinced the Brotherhood to cooperate, or assisted in an Orleans takeover of the facilities: the Vertibirds that try to take down the Blimp are shot down, and the Blimp uses its loitering ability to provide a constant source of air-support that can turn the tide.

The Blue Water super weapon is the real trump card: a pre-war submersible dreadnaught, built by the Americans to do coastal razing off of China. All it needed was some hardware upgrades (the Blue Water super weapon quest) to finish its main plasma batteries, and software to run its anti-air defenses. The last software upgrade is hidden below the transmitter where the Enclave is controlling its zombie hoard, presenting a choice in the climax. In order to broadcast the software upgrade, you will need to turn off the transmitter entirely, allowing the zombies to go rampant and uncontrolled.

So super weapons are being slung around. Orleans is about to get dangerous, and you may need a lift out. Of course, your past choices may have a way of catching up with you at this most inconvenient time…

* * *

Act 3's Big Choices are-

-What do you do with the zombie-controller?

Regardless of faction, the player is sent to handle the controller. Though there are three total actions, only two are available on any play through. Ultimately, however, you are the last person standing in the room. It's up to you to make the choice.

(Enclave) Leave the transmitter active: the ghouls will remain under Enclave control, and be stopped once the battle is won. (Can only be chosen if sided with the Enclave in Act 2) (Enclave ending)

(Orleans) Set the transmitter to standby: the ghouls will be stopped and motionless, ending the Enclave's card. (Can only be chosen if sided with Orleans in Act 2) (Orleans Ending)

(Blue Water Pirates) Destroy the transmitter in order to transmit the super-weapon OS, unleashing the feral ghouls on everyone in the city in the process. A true zombie apocalypse scenario, leaving the Blue Water pirates free to leave Orleans with their Dreadnaught during the chaos (if pirates not unified) or to take over New Orleans in the chaos (if the Blue Waters and Brown Waters unified, and Navigator dialogue convinces Captain Supermutant).

* * *

The Blue Water Dreadnaught Escape

The Blue Waters intend to flee the city with their Dreadnaught during the battle, knowing that a decisive victory between the Enclave and Orleans would soon see them removed from the area as well. While you can convince the Pirates to take over on their own if you meet numerous conditions (uniting the Blue and Brown Waters, completing the Superweapon, and convincing Captain Supermutant), their normal course of action is to flee. And possibly level the city as they go, if you completed the super weapon part.

During the battle, the Blue Water Dreadnaught will launch and try to leave. If you completed the super weapon quest and enabled its plasma main batteries, it will launch heavy plasma barrages into the city, causing much devastation as it goes. Whether it successfully escapes depends on whether you turned off the transmitter for software upgrades and alerted the Enclave or Orleans of the pirate super weapon.

So, three variables (Super Weapon Quest, Transmitter Turn-off Upgrades, Alerted Rivals) will determine whether the Dreadnaught successfully escapes, and how much damage the city takes in the process.

The outputs are modular and direct. Disabling the Transmitter and siding with the Blue Waters in the finale allows for the software upgrades that enable AA batteries, protecting the dreadnaught as it flees. Completing the Super Weapon Quest enables the plasma batteries of the Dreadnaught, leading to naval bombardment of Orleans and an epilogue slide worthy of the destruction. Alerting the rival factions determines whether they will try to destroy the Dreadnaught or not.

But eight is a lot to mentally juggle, so as a list…

Upgrades (Yes/No): Super Weapon Quest (Yes/No): Alerted Rivals (Yes/No) will be shown as U(Y):S(N):A(Y) as appropriate.

Remember that while Upgrades is determined by siding with the Blue Waters in the finale or not, the Super Weapon Quest and Alerting Rivals is not required or prohibited for the player's factional alignment.

Siding with the Blue Waters at the Finale to enable the Upgrades…

U(Y):S(Y):A(Y): The Rivals are alerted, but the upgrades allow the unstoppable Dreadnaught to fight off Vertibirds and the plasma batteries destroy the Blimp and much of the city. The Blue Waters will escape successfully, but can take over the city if other conditions are met.

U(Y):S(Y):A(N): The Rivals are not alerted, and the unstoppable Dreadnaught takes the city by surprise. Plasma batteries devastate the city and destroy the Blimp. The Blue Waters will escape successfully, but can take over the city if other conditions are met.

U(Y):S(N):A(Y): The Rivals are alerted, but the upgrades allow the Dreadnaught to fight off Vertibirds and keep the Blimp at bay. Without the plasma batteries, Orleans is not bombarded and the pirates escape.

U(Y):S(N):A(N): The Rivals are not alerted, and are in no position to chase the Dreadnaught. The Pirates are free to escape, and without the plasma batteries do not bombard Orleans.

Siding with the other factions at the finale will prevent the Upgrades…

U(N):S(Y):A(Y): The Rivals are alerted and prepared to destroy the Dreadnaught. Plasma barrages devastate the city before the Dreadnaught is destroyed.

U(N):S(Y):A(N): The Rivals, taken by surprise, are not prepared to destroy the Dreadnaught. Plasma barrages devastate the city before the Dreadnaught escapes.

U(N):S(N):A(Y): The Rivals are alerted and prepared to destroy the Dreadnaught. Helpless and unable to bombard the city, the Dreadnaught is destroyed.

U(N):S(N):A(N): The Rivals are no prepared to destroy the Dreadnaught. The Dreadnaught slips away in the battle, without devastating the city.

The Dreadnaught Epilogue slide would reflect whether the Dreadnaught survived or not, and reflect its role in the post-conflict Blue Water fleet depending on how powerful or not it was. In short, the completed Dreadnaught allows the Bluewaters to destroy any naval challenger for the foreseeable future. An incomplete dreadnaught is the flagship for Captain Supermutant, but rarely risked in battle as he searches to complete it.

* * *

Author Note:

The preparations for the superweapons would be the critical path quests to reach the end. Whether you're honestly on the side of the Act 2 victor, or just working it for the Blue Waters as part of secret Blue Water negotiations for their exit from Orleans when the decisive battle occurs, these are the quests that would push you across the region and to the major locations.

The choice to focus on superweapons rather than allies and conventional forces was based on a number of ideas that came together. For one thing, the idea of a zombie apocalypse rising from the Bayou and Lake Pontchartrain to overwhelm the living/Orleans was just too good. More seriously, the Enclave using dubious brainwashing technology to build an army was both evil science calling back to Deathclaw controllers and addressed a lingering idea that an Enclave victory in Orleans would come not from their own technology, but the people already in the region. Which is kind of held up. For Orleans, the idea of using the Brotherhood AA batteries and a blimp with mirrors as a floating battleship was both outrageous and utterly ambitious, perfect for a Napoleon who is using relatively primitive technology to dominate the higher technology groups. As for the Blue Waters, the reveal that they are in it for a warship that could help enforce their monopoly seemed a good way to see them leave the city as pirates.

Above all else, though, a superweapon gambit seemed the less predictable and conventional means for a climatic battle. Usually the PC is the one fighting against a superweapon to save the day, but here it's more along the lines that the Navigator is setting the conditions for the superweapon to win the battle for them. Securing your own side's superweapon preparations is one part, but destroying the other side's would be the other.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Superweapons and their enable/hinder quests don't become accessible until Act 3, but foreshadowing and pieces of them can be found across the Bayou and the region if you look carefully.

The Enclave superweapon has three main pieces. The Bayou Witchdoctors and Necromancers are the first indicator, as the Enclave has a few points of showing serious interest in their means of strengthening and controlling voodoo zombies. A second hint is that at the Orleans nuclear plant run by the Enclave, there are pre-war records of radiation experiments on ghouls, ferality, and even the ghoul creation proecess. The final and most disturbing indicator is a notable quest in which the player's investigation uncovers a black project/criminal action in which Ghoul dissidents arrested by the Enclave are sent to a secret prison that is right near the power plant. The black project has gone beyond it's scope of ghoul dissidents to illegally and without sanction kidnapping ghouls for experimentation. Uncovering this project is a major scandal for the Enclave's reputation in the area, and prompts Governor Hans to immediately punish the offenders.

The Orleans superweapon has three main pieces of its own, two of which are tied with the Brotherhood of Steel. The first is that the Blimp, stationed in Orleans territory, is an Orleans-Brotherhood cooperative project that is breaking the terms of the Brotherhood's armistice with the Enclave, with the superweapon's project code name raised. Potential scandal if you break the story. Another is records with the Brotherhood of Steel of the project, which the Elders are resisting and oppose doing. The third is an Orleans project towards making beam-reflective mirrors that can stand up to plasma.

The Bluewaters superweapon is better hidden. You can actually stumble across it if you explore and break in through the Blue Water's Shipyard, and a very few of the elite Blue Water captains are known to be looking for components. Otherwise, since the Bluewater superweapon is one you would only be brought in on if you gain high Bluewater approval, the first time you see the dreadnaught might be during its escape.


	13. Act 3: The Endings

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Endings: The Player May Die

* * *

There are four primary endings, depending on who the Navigator ultimately sided with: the Enclave rules, Orleans rules, the Pirates trigger zombie apocalypse and flee, leaving the 'victor' with a devastated city, or Pirates trigger zombie apocalypse and then turn Orleans into pirate heaven.

But just as the Navigator could betray the factions throughout the game, the factions can betray the Navigator as well, depending on past actions. Every faction has a few variables in which you can find yourself executed even after siding with them.

* * *

Orleans:

Napoleon is victorious, and goes in history as the Great Leader who saved Orleans. Patriots are rewarded, quislings are tried, and the opportunistic pirates who don't flee fast enough are rooted out and put to the firing squad.

Death Conditions

The Orleans Empire has the fewest conditions and the simplest solution: factional alignment. It's no secret throughout the game that the Orleans hates the pirates with more of a passion than the Enclave. A player who gains the reputation of a pirate (having a severely negative reputation with Orleans, or a very high reputation with the pirates) or who helped the Blue Waters complete their super weapon and raze Orleans, will be rewarded as a hero of the Empire, and then executed by Napoleon's orders.

Since the cure to this status is to raise your reputation to Orleans to at least neutral, which is easy over the course of the main story alone, or to decrease your reputation with the pirates, which can be done by attacking them at any time, this isn't much of a challenge to avoid. The harder part is if you completed the super weapon for the Blue Waters- Napoleon doesn't take kindly to having her city devastated by pirates. Mercy can come if you pass two of three extremely high Reputation, Barter, and Speech, checks: essentially arguing that you are a True Orleans Patriot, that you were only a business associate with the Pirates but are worth more/have done more for Orleans, and that you had no idea that the Pirates intended to raze the city and that you did warn Orleans of the weapon. Naturally, not alerting Orleans of the weapon nixes that argument. Still, as long as you are not an ass to the Empire, and don't be too chummy with the pirates, you'll be fine.

As there would always be an infinite-duration quest that could raise reputation (find pirate scalps for caps and reputation with Orleans, effectively solving both), the player can always grind their way to a better outcome. The super weapon pardon would be harder, and might require significant persuasion skills.

Your karma reputation doesn't matter in any respect.

* * *

Enclave:

The Government of the United States declares the rebirth of the nation with the accession of the State of Orleans. Collaborators become future citizens. Traitors to the Government are given their due. The Blue Water merchants are allowed to repent, but the remaining pirates will be shot. Governor Hans either proceeds to assimilate the locals, or Enclave Military Command after Hans' overthrow continues to occupy the region.

Death Condition:

There are two people who you have to justify yourself to in the Enclave: Captain Hans, and Belle. Your best asset to do so is to enlist the favor of the other.

Belle's checks are results-oriented on two decisions that impacted her personally: what you chose to do at the very beginning of the game, and a late-game (Act 3) quest in which you could support a coup within the Enclave that might kill Governor Hans.

If you tried to hand her over to the Orleans troopers at the start, she will have you killed by a Marine sniper unless you can pass a speech or reputation check with Captain Hans that you've more than made it up since then. The check will be easier if you have higher morality or if you gave the cure to the Enclave. (100 base for Evil: -10 if Neutral, -20 if Good, -30 if Cure to Enclave.) Belle won't like your actions, but Hans likes your character or is convinced you were just in a bad position.

If you supported the coup and Captain Hans is dead, you die in the epilogue. Belle uses a pocket-nuke to suicide bomb an awards ceremony in your honor, killing herself, you, and all of the Enclave officers involved in the coup.

Captain Hans will have you killed if you completed the Blue Water super weapon and enabled the bombardment of Orleans, or have an Evil karma level, regardless of your faction reputations or past decisions. However, you can pass a speech check to convince Belle to speak up on your behalf based on your service history. (100 speech check for neutral reputation, -5 points per level of positive Enclave reputation, and a –10 if you tried to fight your way through the pirates/Orleans at the start, handed over the cure, or resolved the coup attempt in Hans' favor.) Hans won't like your character, but Belle appeals to results.

The Enclave decisions are not based around your reputation level with the Enclave (higher reputation just makes it easier), but on your karma and specific decisions. So long as you don't let Hans die, both Hans and Belle can be convinced via persuasion check to spare you. The only guaranteed-death is if you let Hans die.

* * *

Blue Water Pirates:

The Blue Water Pirates have made a killing in the killing. Whether they leave to continue their maritime profiteering ways (no cure), depart in an effort to colonize Cuba and the Caribbean (cure), or stay to live in Orleans (unite the Blue and Brown Waters and convince Captain Super Mutant), the Blue Waters will be a maritime force for some time. Depending on how they left, Orleans may need decades of rebuilding before it can even think of challenging their maritime monopoly.

Death Conditions:

The pirates are interesting because while you can always side with them going into the finale, it's very easy to have yourself stuck on the beach without a boat if you screwed them over in the past.

That's not a figure of speech: the way the pirates let you die is that after you disable the transmitter and trigger the full-scale zombie apocalypse and try to escape to the sea, you'll be left on the beach without a boat to escape on. Thus leaving you stuck between an infinite swarm of high-level ghouls (possibly mixed with Orleans laser artillery), and the insta-kill of the Masters of the Deep, who you see feeding off of other desperate people who are jumping in the water to escape the zombies. Your choice of death, appropriate for such a free-choice bunch of people, is to fight until you're ripped apart, or jump into the ocean and be ripped apart.

The pirates will leave you on the beach for making the wrong sort of choice on any of four occasions, though one of them is much earlier in the game.

(1) If the player did NOT hand over the cure to the pirates at the end of Act 1. They needed that cure in order to colonize the radioactive Caribbean where no land empire could march on them, and you denied that safety to them. So now they won't try and help you.

(2) If the Navigator exposed the pirate's super weapon to the Enclave or Orleans. While the pirates will escape regardless if they're upgraded, you betrayed a trust and should expect it in return. Because **** you, that's why.

(3) If the player didn't complete the super weapon quest, they won't risk themselves to save you in the first place. The software will help them if they find salvage parts elsewhere, but the Dreadnaught is too big to risk.

(4) If the Navigator's reputation with the pirates is negative, whether you went bounty hunter against them or thought it'd be funny to attack their settlements… well **** you to.

These are the four conditions. 3 and 4 can be fixed at any time before triggering the finale, though the only infinite-repeating approval quests for the Blue Waters is engaging in slavery.

While the pirate betrayal is intended to take you by surprise, if the player completes some side quests for the pirates they can hear some foreshadowing about how the Navigator will be used as long as they remain useful and then no longer.

The Blue Water execution has one way out: a Stock Check. Not speech, not morality, not history: Stocks.

Stocks are the unique Blue Water currency, covered later. Stocks represent an investment of interest and ability, and shows an interest in the Blue Waters. Commonly found as quest or dungeon rewards, finding one is simply: finding many is dedication. Besides being exceptionally valuable, worth hundreds of caps each, there is a fixed number of stocks in the game.

Holding onto stocks shows that you have a continued interest in the Blue Waters. The more stocks, the more interest. Captain Supermutant will listen and reconsider the fate of anyone with enough stocks, either because such people have done many good things for the Blue Waters (stocks from quest rewards), or many bad things (stocks from murder, theft, or both). The former may warrant leniency- the later should not be double crossed lightly, in case they survive.

There might be two hundred Stocks in the game, total. Each transgression has a cost of stocks. 'Minor' transgression, the reputation or superweapon quest, are 'just' 50 Stocks each. The serious transgressions are 100 each. If you get and keep every stock plate in the game, you can be forgiven for the serious transgressions, while having the chance to rectify the minor ones.

Assuming the player earns forgiveness, Captain Supermutant will send your boat back around to pick you up. If you never need forgiveness at all, the Blue Waters will arrange a dashing rescue for you, picking you up just as you reach the beach.

* * *

Author Note:

One of the ideas I wanted to be present for the factions is that while they might tolerate your assistance even if they dislike you, there should be some end-game or post-game consequences for the player depending on how badly you screwed them over. It's always possible to escape an execution if you metagame appropriately, and metagaming should generally be expected, but it's also pretty easy to avoid screwing over a faction in the first place. Just don't obviously side against them at important points.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The final battle takes place in Eastern Orleans, where the Enclave is trying to break through the Brotherhood's territory in order to surround and isolate the Orleans-held city from any reinforcements from the East. The transmitter is located in a secret bunker there, serving as a beacon to control and guide the Ghouls through Orleans territory.

Depending on your faction, you may end there at the bunker. If you side with the Blue Waters, though, you flee east to the coastline part of the city, a path to give you a better view of the Armageddon you unleashed and to put you on the shoreline for the Blue Water's possible execution.


	14. Geography: World Map

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: World Map

* * *

Upfront disclaimer- a liberal amount of Artistic License is invoked for geography. Unlike FNV, which went to some length to preserve geographic similarities, various changes in the terrain of the Orleans area are invoked. Between the growth of the post-apocalyptic Bayou, a coast reshaped by centuries of nature, and the introduction of artificial hills to the east of the city, the terrain is as much hand-waved to be functional as it is justified by the lore.

The world map of Fallout: Orleans is roughly twice the scale as Fallout: New Vegas. For reference, I-15 from Northern Las Vegas (the East-West road near where the Honest Hearts DLC begins) to Nipton Road (the intersection at the base of the hill to the Ranger Monument, where going East takes you to Nipton) is about 60 miles/100 km if we round to big round numbers. The I-15/Nipton Road intersection to Cottonwood Cove is about 45 miles, or 75km. In other words, Fallout: New Vegas largely takes place in a 45 x 60 square mile area. By comparison, FO3 takes place in a vaguely 35 x 35 square mile area.

Fallout: Orleans is imagined as focusing on the area between Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Diamondhead, Missouri (110 miles East-West by I-12). Cut Off, LA would be the general limits of the Southern coastline, with the Missouri/Louisiana state border near Kentwood, LA being the northern limits of the playable Bayou (another 120 miles North-South linked by I-55). Neither Baton Rouge or Gulfport are actually part of the map- both are off-limits and effectively just-in-view of the player's limits, and the northern limit of the Bayou is arbitrary, so the overall map is really about 100 x 100 square miles. Given that world map location density and travel speed are also arbitrary, this doesn't necessarily mean a world three times as large as FO3, but it is envisioned as significantly larger than FNV. Or rather, as large as FNV if FNV had used the entire world map rather than remove entire portions.

The World Map is broken into five distinct regions and terrain types, largely along cardinal directions. While the city of Orleans isn't the center of the map, it is the center of the compass.

* * *

Center: Orleans (the City)

The Center of the region, but located at and dominating the center/lower half of the map. Very similar to downtown D.C. from FO3, once you leave the world-map outskirts it is a non-continuous series of separate areas linked by various tunnels and canals. Rubble mountains, military roadblocks and barricades, and the Mighty Mississippi keep the city divided. Outside of some contested strips, the Enclave generally owns the parts of the city west and south of the Mississippi while Orleans still holds the north and east.

With few exceptions, both banks of the Missippi are effectively impassible rubble mountains, along with frequent sniper posts or machine gun nests along the river. Eastern Orleans is a number of high-concentration areas like the inner-DC sections. Western Orleans, where more ruined skyscrapers and uncleared rubble are, is a series of concrete canyons and more continuous with the world map.

Lake Pontchartrain still exists despite being encroached upon by the Bayou and pre-war artificial islands, as do the bridges across it thanks to some pre-invasion repair work by the First Consul and Napoleon. I-10 is still under Orleans control, but the Pontchartrain Causeway was lost during the Enclave invasion. Knowing that it couldn't be kept from the Enclave but not wanting to destroy it, Napoleon allowed the Blue Waters to 'lease' it- the Blue Waters charge a significant fee and screen for contraband, but it provides a logistics route from the Orleans-held territory to the Bayou. This has benefits for everyone, even the Enclave spies known to use it, and so no one wishes to destroy the bridge.

The major disputed zones with ongoing fighting are as follows. I-10 to the northwest, between Laplace and Kenner, is a suburban war zone stuck between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi. It has been so heavily mined and blown apart that all that remains of suburbia is houses worthy of the Capital Wasteland, and has been pocketed with craters and temporary positions. The south-center of the city, the HWY 90 curve, is FO3 DC urban warfare, with trenches and bunkers. Southeast of the city there's three-way fighting in the Marsh, covered in the coastline section.

* * *

West: The Flatlands

West of Orleans is the generally flatter, more open terrain. During the days of the First Consul, the area around the Mighty Mississippi was cleared and deforested to open up living space, farmland, to harvest the wood and raw materials for repairing the city, and re-opening the river for trade with the pre-war factories salvaged along the river. With the ultimate goal of re-connecting to off-map Baton Rouge, the pre-war area known as 'Cancer Alley' is a post-war area of reclamation and redevelopment. In a case of poetic justice, the low lifespans of locals makes cancer an 'old person's disease, one that only concerns the Enclave. The Enclave has occupied the ruins of Baton Rouge as its primary rear base, closing off the area to all non-Enclave personnel.

With various reclaimed settlements, reestablished infrastructure, and pre-war chemical plants and factories recovered from the Bayou, this is the area of Enclave dominance as it works to set up an effective ruling government. It is the flatlands area of the local wasteland, with isolated buildings or settlements dotting the open terrain.

Fitting the redevelopment theme, the West has the largest number of intact and repaired roads outside of Orleans. I-12 serves as a W-E connecting the entire world map north of Lake Pontchartrain, and marks an informal boundary of civilization and the Bayou. I-10 is less traversable: the western parts near the city of Gonzales and Baton Rouge were heavily damaged in the nuclear exchange, leaving FO3-style super highway remnants used for small settlements or observation posts, while the eastern parts nearer Orleans are ground-level war zone. The primary route from Baton Rouge to Orleans is 'Cancer Alley', a road hand railing the Mississippi that combines Highway 61 and State Road 3125. The HWY 61 portions are pre-war, but the rest near the river is a post-war project commissioned by the First Consul. To the south of the Mississippi is the Consul Road, which dominates the South.

A checkpoint representing the intersection of I-10 and I-12 marks the western limit of the map near an impassible Enclave security barrier around Baton Rouge, while the player can see the skyscrapers and ruins of the city like the unreachable parts of Eastern DC in FO3. With the Enclave government is based out of Orleans the military based out of Baton Rouge, and the player can see the occasional Vertibird flight over the area.

* * *

East: The Hills

East of Orleans is the rougher terrain, with hills, seaside cliffs, and where the bayou was beaten back with limited success. The pre-war US and Louisiana Commonwealth invested huge sums of money in to build coastal fortifications and hill-bunkers in an effort that was a mix of invasion paranoia, government pork and waste for storm surge protection, and make-work to provide mass employment and address social unrest. Now, hundreds of years later, those man-made mountains are actual hills and the bunkers were an Orleans military bastion that the Enclave couldn't crack. Going north, the terrain flattens and soon borders the bayou.

The Eastern limit of the map would be a naval observatory a bit west of Bay St Louis along I-10. From the top of the hill, the player could see the bay itself, the off-map Orleans settlement at Diamondhead, or look north to the endless swamps of the Bayou. I-59, while nowhere near as intact, would lead to a pro-Orleans Bayou tribal settlement IVO of Poplarville, MI as the eastern limit of the map. (Napoleon is very poplar there, you see. Badum-tish.)

While not as rich or productive as the flatlands west of the city, the East is an extension of Orleans and its allies. Military training camps and garrisons exist to train draftees and tribals, and traders from other parts of the Bayou and further east travel along I-10. Mobile, Alabama, is not under Orleans control but is home to a number of pro-Orleans tribes and immigrants, allies cultivated by the First Consul (and intended for colonization by Napoleon before the war). The remains of I-59 lead towards more Orleans-leaning areas of the Bayou, with the city of Hattiesburg being a distant, unreachable, but notable pre-war ruins now home to a number of tribal allies of Napoleon.

* * *

North: The Bayou

Starting with Lake Pontchartrain and going north as an inverted triangle, the Bayou is, well, the Bayou. It varies from dry marsh or jungle to extremely wet swamps, and it is 'the Capital Wasteland' term for the Gulf Coast area outside Orleans. No one knows quite how large it is or how far north it has gotten, but it is known to run the coast from eastern-most Texas down to Florida, and extend as far north along the Mississippi as Arkansas. The Bayou appears to not only dominate swamps and rivers, but to also spread over drylands as well (though dry-Bayou is easier to clear). Mystical and mythical, legends abound about of lost tribes, treasures, and terrors, and tribals often treat the entire Bayou is a single entity.

The Bayou is a mix of wet and dry. Wet Bayou is actual swamp: though a person can often walk or swim through waist-high waters, the radioactive water, critters, and underwater traps generally make this a bad idea. It is highly encourage to travel wet bayou with the player's boat, with jumping out a rare concession to necessity. Dry bayou is a bit more open, a bit less treacherous, significantly less radioactive, and tends to be backwoods South in tone and style. In Orleans, Dry Bayou is generally islands of safety surrounded by wet bayou, with the player's boat being the easiest and safest way to explore the Bayou.

Before the Enclave Invasion, the First Consul and Napoleon both made great inroads into the Bayou along the Mississippi River, making numerous allies that support them to this day. While never seen, various tribes in the Bayou are said to make up a significant part of the forces for Orleans, and there are outposts in the abandoned Old World Cities that support Napoleon to this day.

I-12 marks the general border between civilization and the Bayou, being the northernmost E-W road, though the Bayou clearly jumps over the line east of I-55 and reaching into Lake Maurepas and northern Lake Pontchartrain. The northernmost settlement of the Bayou would be Kentwood, LA, based on a lonely surviving section of I-55. With most of the roads and interstates in the Bayou being long-gone, its pre-war mega-highway bridge and other aspects (including a real working air conditioner) are advertised as a notorious tourist trap. I-55 and I-59, despite numerous breaks, are the closest thing to major roads in the Bayou. Everything else is localized fragments of pre-war backroads, often islands of dry surrounded by more Bayou.

* * *

South: Coastline and Ocean

The water is the area of undisputed Blue Water dominance, and the coast is where it touches into Enclave and Orleans territory. Anywhere there's a coastal settlement, there's usually a Blue Waters presence and influence, if not actual ownership. The west, with gentle plains leading to the ocean, has some small communities that the Enclave generally doesn't bother much with past a token presence and recruitment. To the East, the coast is a number of rocky cliffs and few lagoons or docking points meeting the water: the Blue Waters have effectively blockaded the Orleans ports on and off the world map.

Post-war erosion and time have seen the coastline creep north. Cut Off, LA, is effectively the southern coastline. To the east of Orleans, the urban extensions of the city have sunk into the ocean, creating pavement beaches with old skyscrapers popping out of the ocean as a mix of post-Katrina flooding and post-apocalyptic half-submerged Tokyo. To the South of the city, a ruined warehouse district along Lake Salvador marks the no-man's-land grounds of the city limits. South of that and to the general south-east, the various pre-war environmental reserves and wildlife refuges have become estuaries and brakish swamps known as the Marsh (distinct from the Bayou north of the city) that are a battleground for all three factions. The southwest of the city, more open and suburban, was cleared and organized by the First Consul as part of the initial Orleans Republic. Napoleon's imperial expansion westward along the coast was interrupted by the Enclave.

The South has two main roads, largely E-W oriented, both post-war rehabilitation projects by the First Consul as part of his expansion of the Republic. Consul Road is the primary south-of-the-Mississippi road from east to west- effectively a road repair project using gravel from the city mixed with pre-war roads. It starts at the South of the city along HWY 90 and turns west to link Raceland, Thibodaux, Napoleonville, and meets the Mighty Mississippi at Donaldsonville south of Gonzales. Consul Road is the de facto borders of Enclave control, and keeps its name despite multiple attempts to rename it. Coast Road, which skirts the coast, is the much-less developed mud-road with occasional pavement that links Cut Off (the Eastern Limit), Raceland (where it intersects Consul Road), Houma, and Morgan City (western end). All but Raceland are under Blue Water influence. After the First Consul's death Napoleon wanted to extend it the road and the Orleans Empire along HWY 90 to Franklin, New Iberia, and Lafayette, but those plans were interrupted by the Enclave.

Offshore, various boats can be seen. While the player's boat is limited to the map, you can occasionally intercept and interact with traders or fishermen or pirates. Further out you can see other vessels, the ocean-faring vessels of the Blue Water fleet. The most prominent skyline on the ocean is Camp Cargo, the mother-feet of the Blue Waters. Elsewhere, there are a few islands the player can dock. Some other points to include would be a skyscraper emerging from the ocean here, a derelict coastal oil rig, a pre-war naval post, and so on.

* * *

Author Note:

The world map general overview. The next several updates will go into far more detail about all the major sub-sections, effectively to all the fast travel points of interest. If I had to give a single criticism for why FOO would be hard to make as a video game as envisioned, it's probably because I included so many places and ideas over such a wide area. Just as FNV had to cut out an entire planned Legion region to the East, depending on resources much of this would probably need to be cut for an actual video game consideration. (Well, unless you went the Skyrim scale of world.)

Fun fact: nearly all imagined locations have a real-world equivalent or location picked out using real world equivalents or locations. If you open a google maps browser, you should be able to find all the points listed and get a sense of just how the world map would look and feel as you travel across it.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

All the major regions of the map have a separate dominant image and regional focus, and each had a particular rationalization during the planning process.

The city of Orleans (no longer 'new') was the centerpiece of the setting, of course, and ended up reflecting a lot of my ambitions and enjoyment of FO3 and the D.C. ruins. By far my favorite part of FO3 was the ruins of the capital, and so the city of Orleans channels both that hypothetical 'if the Enclave had been a joinable faction' element and the musings of 'what would a major city ruins look like once reclaimed?' While I very much enjoyed FNV as an all-time favorite, I always felt that Vegas itself felt small: Orleans is a conceptual cross of the FO3 D.C. ruins style with the FNV civilization.

The North being the Bayou was the first and most concrete idea of the setting from its earliest stages. As soon as I decided on Orleans, I knew I would need to include the post-apocalyptic Bayou, and the logical place for the bayou is, well, the wetter parts of the map. Lake Pontchartrain became the real buffer between the city and the swamp, and one I had to pare down and turn into bayou so that the lake didn't outright dominate the map. The Bayou was the most flexible part of the setting, filled with everything from mutant crocodiles to hillbilly rednecks.

The West became the environmental antithesis to the Bayou, which would be a dangerous and radioactive place that might feel claustrophobic. The west became the antidote of that, the place more familiar to wasteland wandering of FNV and FO3 where wide open and flat spaces, with the occasional settlement or ruin, mark the expanse. It was meant to feel safe, open, and reclaimed by civilization- appealing to the themes of both the First Consul and the Enclave about development and taking control back from nature. The West has the most real-world influences on the setting equivalents in the game, thanks to real-world locations in the Cancer Alley region.

The South was where I began taking serious terrain liberties, moving the coast up quite a ways. This was both a matter of form, providing a plausible sense of the passage of time sense the apocalypse by having environmental damage wreck the coastline, and function. I wanted there to be a real sea portion of the map for the player to sail off the coast and encounter off-shore locations, and the real southern coastline of Louisiana was too south. Cut-off, LA became the new southern coastbecause... well, the location was right and the name was too good to pass on. In-setting, people would think cut-off was actually named for the coastline.

The East was the more extreme and arbitrary change. There are no real hills or mountains east of New Orleans- the entire region is pretty flat and low, one of the facts that makes hurricanes so problematic. I wanted hills because... well, I enjoyed the hills of FNV. I think they make natural barriers and challenges for exploration, natural places for dungeons thanks to caves or mines, and they can offer great views. There were two views in particular I had in mind: one watching over the city, and one looking off into the off-map region so that you could see the Orleans rear-base off-map east, a reverse elevation counterpart to being able to see the Enclave's skyscrapers of Baton Rouge. Justifying the hills seemed absurd... until I remembered that the pre-war government was absurd. The idea of man-made mountains of dirty for flimsy reasonings just seemed to work then: the idea of the dystopia of the pre-war being such that having people carry buckets of dirt to make mounds into mountains for a combination of all the wrong reasons of the world just seemed right. Unfortunately, the East is probably the weakest and least developed region of the World Map- a challenge of a lack of real-world places of interest to find on google maps. It has some strong points and ideas, but it's weaker than the other regions (but balanced in part that Orleans-held Orleans is the greatest part of the city).


	15. Geography: Act 1

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Act 1

* * *

Act One: Search for the Cure: Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge

Act One focuses on finding the player's missing boat and discovering the Cure for the Bayou. As the Act One arc is intended to keep the players in a fixed area, its locations are distinct from the rest of the locations. Act 1 takes place largely in the area of Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge along the Louisiana/Mississippi border.

Similar to FNV the initial intended path is a predictable path of low-level encounters caged in by high-level encounters and excessive radiation outside that intended path. With luck and preparation the player can break sequence and reach the rest of the map. The main story plot will not progress until the Cure is found (the narrative equivalent of FNV's confrontation with Benny), which means the boat cannot be found, but otherwise the map is open.

The following locations are those along the intended route. The area, deep in the Bayou is primarily dry marsh and small rivers/streams. As long as you stay on the main paths, you can avoid radiation build up. Small amounts of Punga fruit exist along the routes to mitigate accidental buildups. Once the player has found their boat, they can reach this area anytime.

* * *

Note: Format

To work on a standardized format, the template for each location will be-

Name: The name the cast will refer to the place as. May be a filler

Faction: What major faction owns the place. If not a group with reputation, 'None'

Old World Equivalent: The general location of the area using Google Earth. Remember that locations in a game map will not be 1-to-1 scale. Locations in the city of Orleans generally won't have an exact equivalent.

-Notes of interest: Key points about each area.

* * *

Witch Doctor Hut

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None

-The starting point of the adventure. The Witch Doctor saved your life for his own purposes of creating a voodoo zombie, and did voodoo medicine to justify the character creation selection.

-The Witch Doctor's hut is a hut on stilts with a variety of equipment, tools, and some electronics inside.

-Outside and below are mud huts where the voodoo zombies and other test subjects live. They are pinned in by electric fences.

-The goal is escape: the player can fight, sneak, lockpick, hack off the electric barriers, and so on.

-Fellow prisoners and the witch doctor can give initial information for the regional situation and the nearest outpost, the Pearl River Crossing

* * *

Pear River Crossing

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Pearl River Canal

-A small river crossing over a waterway that riverboats can travel along. One side has a general store, and the other a small bar with a room for rent.

-Traditional 'seedy bar': tough-guy customers, stoic barkeeper, and a classic jukebox. The outpost serves as a waypoint for hunters and trappers sailing from Orleans deep into the Bayou.

-Location of meeting the Enclave Companion. Enclave Companion's first appearance is trying and failing to be slick in a bar dispute, but using a laser pistol to pull himself out of a tense situation. Enclave Companion can be potentially recruited.

-A Blue Water affiliate offers to help you find your boat if you can find what Belle was after and where she is now. (Blue Water is plot critical- may be hidden behind bullet-proof glass.)

-Player gets two leads- an Enclave outpost on to the west of the river, and an Orleans safe house to the east.

* * *

Enclave Bayou Outpost

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Bush, LA

-A small settlement in the Bayou. Think backwoods sticks: rusted tin roof, rickety wood, and hick-yokels. A prewar church with a bell tower serves as an observation post for the Enclave garrison.

-Is atop a small hill, with small graveyards and a pre-war cemetery graveyards would be in the rural American south style.

-The cemetery, a larger graveyard with a nav point, would be one with pre-war massoliums and explorable structures, and thus it's own point of interest. It would be a good point to have some Ghouls hiding out there, trying to stay out of the Enclave's sight and attention. The Enclave knows they are there, but is happy to keep the mutual distance.

-The outpost is held by a squad of Enclave National Guard and used as a way point for Bayou patrols and watching the Pearl River, but strategically insignificant. The recent arrival of a squad of Enclave Marines in power armor indicates something amiss.

-Narrative impetus is to ask around about Belle and your missing boat. The Enclave officer, a Lieutenant, has information on his computer, but will trade it for the player quid-pro-quo for a non-controversial favor. Quest could be wiping out a nest of bog critters that have been harassing the town. Alternatively, player can sneak/speech/hack the info from the LT.

-Crux of information is that the Enclave Marines are out to find Belle, who found critical information regarding the location of the Cure of the Bayou. If delayed, Belle is supposed to have gone to a backup rendezvous point at the Hunter Shack.

-Enclave Lieutenant is willing to give up this information because they are convinced the Cure is an urban legend and a wild goose chase. The Enclave LT does not know Belle is a member of the Enclave, but believes her a wastelander informant.

* * *

Hunter Shacks

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Cin-Dy's Sandwich Shop, north of Bush, near the Bogue Chitto river.

-A false lead on Bella: Bella took your boat after fleeing the attack, but has since moved on.

-Hunter Shack is a group of buildings-on-stilts in the bayou. A small group of trappers sell supplies.

-Can buy Baby Deathjaw companion here, or earn with quest. Quest, while possible at lower levels with stealth, would involve braving the more dangerous bayou that the player is underleveled for.

-Belle is confirmed to have your boat, and revealed she would need it to get to her destination. Trappers suggest she went east.

* * *

Charles' Shack

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Page Lake (in the crescent)

-Home of Charles, the Orleans Companion, which serves as a safe house for Orleans soldiers. Charles can be recruited if conditions are met.

-A classic back-woods redneck home, complete with 'stay off my lawn' sign. And landmines.

-It has a cellar, where Orleans soldiers will hide out and sleep. In exchange for shelter, the Orleans soldiers share food and booze with the retired grenadier.

-Charles is your lead on the Orleans soldiers who chased Belle. They reveal that Belle is an Enclave agent with information they were ordered to capture. They do not know what that information was.

-Belle is believed to have sought sanctuary with the local Regulators.

* * *

Regulator HQ

Faction: Regulators

Old World Equivalent: Parker Bayou

-Location of the Regulator Companion

-Reclusive base for the vigilante group. They are neutral in the war, and have been known to target corrupt/criminals of all sides... meaning all major factions dislike them.

-Based out of a park ranger compound. The Regulators have been hiding since a recent crackdown from the major factions.

-In exchange for help, player will be given encrypted holodisk the Belle left behind to expected Enclave followers. Blue Water Affiliate at River Crossing Bar can decrypt it to get coordinates for The Cure Facility, but the data is meaningless without the Enclave LT's knowledge.

-Regulator Companion could be encountered and possibly recruited at this point.

* * *

The Cure Facility

Faction: None. (Former Orleans: terminals dated to time of First Consul)

Old World Equivalent: None. Somewhere in Mississippi.

-Hidden location of the Cure, the long-lost radiation poisoning treatment. Hidden to prevent the scientists from being targeted by pirates during their research, its location was lost when the First Consul died and brown water raiders found and killed the scientists.

-An 'off-map' location, and one that you can't return to after leaving.

-A pre-war facility built on what became a lake. Re-purposed by the First Consul, the ground floor is pretty much gone but the higher floors are intact.

-You need a boat to reach and get under the base. The player is required to catch a ride from the Blue Water affiliate who can call in a boat. They depart soon after the player enters the facility.

-The player's boat is here, but by circumstance it is locked in by a gate that must be opened from within the facility. The player can not grab their boat and sail away.

-Once in the facility, the Navigator finds that Belle has already called in the Enclave, and the Orleans forces have followed you and are about to attack. A two-way battle for the Cure data will result with higher-level enemies, with Belle having set the base to self-destruct to deny it to Orleans.

-The player is offered the Choice to transmit the data to the Blue Waters or not. The Blue Waters, needing to retreat, take the player's boat to Pirate Cove and invite/taunt the player to visit and retrieve it depending on the choice.

-The player needs to escape with the Enclave (via vertibird) or Orleans (via boat) before the base explodes. Both factions invite/ask the player to go with them, and screen the player from the other.

-If the player triggers hostility with the enemy, their escape craft departs without the player. If the player attacks both factions, the player is left and killed in the explosion.

-Finishing the Cure Facility ends Act One.

* * *

Author Note:

The first region, and the only one separated by Act. The Boque Chitto Wildlife Refugee would house a gameplay region probably analogous to the the FNV are between Goodsprings, Primm, and the Powder Ganger territory in terms of time and content. This area is short, and while some more points could be added it wouldn't do to distract from how Act 1 is deliberately short. The intent here is to provide a microcosm of the wider Bayou, including initial (and neutral) first impressions. The Enclave isn't particularly sympathetic or courteous, but willing to work with you in a quid pro quo. The Orleans are more amiable to helping you, assuming you say the right things. The Blue Waters are where the money is.

Most of the companions can be met, and possibly recruited, in this small initial area. This isn't necessary, per say, but I do feel all companions should at least be available by Act 2.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Boque Chitto Reserve is the archetypical backwoods Bayou of Orleans, and the aesthetic of the settlements and ruins around it are extremely rural redneck. Scrapmetal shacks with corroded tin roofs, worn down wooden churches, and a graveyard overgrown with weeds and shrubbery- that sort of thing. By and large, the area is dry bayou along the Pearl River, surrounded by much tougher and radioactive Bayou that keeps you pinned in.

The Pearl River is a major waterway from the coast to deep in the Bayou. The Boque Chittos's only relevance is from that purpose, being a trading post and base point for hunters and other expeditions into the Bayou.


	16. Geography: Orleans: Blue Waters

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Orleans: Blue Waters

* * *

City of Orleans

Act Two introduces us to the ruins of Orleans, and opens the map as a whole. Much like how FO:NV's second arc really began once you reached Vegas and found Benny, Orleans begins once you escape the bayou and get your boat. Doing that would involve travel to Orleans for some vague, unspecified purpose.

* * *

Blue Water Pirates

In the city of Orleans, the Blue Waters operate a modest number of largely neutral attractions and buildings that are open for business. They tend to cling towards the edges of no-man's land or the river, and enforce neutrality in their area.

* * *

Warehouse District

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Lake Salvador

-A pre-war warehouse district loading center built on along Lake Salvador. It has docks along Lake Salvador, and a canal to the Mississippi River proper.

-With varying levels of destruction, rubble-blocked alleys, and hidden areas, the Warehouse District is something of a maze and separate from the rest of the city.

-Effectively a no-man's land in the southern end of the city that everyone can use for secret meetings, either for you to meet somebody of track somebody down in.

-Between the maze and many containers sealed with locks and computers, many containers from the pre-war have yet to be opened.

-The Blue Waters don't maintain firm control, but keep other factions from dominating it while extorting civilians who would use it.

* * *

The Arena

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Mercedes-Benz Superdome

-The pre-war Orleans football stadium, based off of Tulane Stadium. Though the ceiling is mostly destroyed, with just some catwalks and tarps overhead, much of the stands and building survive.

-The Arena was repaired by Napoleon before the war, and reopened in the honor of her father. Originally it was a non-lethal sporting arena. When the Enclave invaded, the arena was abandoned. After the Blue Waters arrived, they took it over the Arena and turned it into a gladiator pit.

-Because slaves are too valuable to be killed off, the gladiators are all volunteers hoping for fame, glory, and the rewards. The Blue Waters include rare and valuable anti-radiation medicines as prizes for the victors, a draw for poor locals.

-The Arena is one of the few 'neutral' areas in the city, a recreation center open to all comers. Enclave, Orleans, Pirates, and even the occasional Brotherhood of Steel member can be found in the audience.

-The Blue Waters enforce neutrality by heavy security.

-The player can fight in the Arena for caps, supplies, or for fun. A quest line to become the Arena Champion allows the player to declare their victory to their chosen faction, earning reputation if they win (and losing if they don't). Fighting in the arena for free, drawing crowds but not taking the rewards, could be an infinite-repeatable quest to get Blue Water approval.

* * *

Canal Central Corp.

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: None. (Multiple locations)

-With most of the city surface ruined on the top and impassible, the First Consul had bridges repaired and canals created out of the pre-war subways and sewers.

- The most important of these, the gates along the Mississippi separating Orleans and Enclave, are controlled by the Blue Waters.

-CCC is a Blue Water business that provides ferry-travel across the city. Usable in lieu of your own boat, and safer than making the trek yourself, CCC provides quicker and easier travel across the city, even across factional lines you have the approval for… again, for a small fee.

-The primary peaceful way to enter the home of the Mardi Gras bandits

-Using Blue Water neutrality as its shield, CCC allows Orleans residents to travel in relative safety throughout the city.

* * *

Littlehorn and Associates

Faction: Blue Waters (adjacent to Bourbon Street)

Old World Equivalent: St. Louis Cathedral (or anywhere morally ironic)

-The Orleans branch of Littlehorn and Associates, which is looking to 'expand and diversify' after the Capital Wasteland. Anti-good, and anti-governments that try to be good.

-An eager backer and investor in the Blue Water pirates, with a goal to 'spread its services across the wasteland.' Definitely on the more evil side of the Blue Waters corporate aspect.

-The owner of Talon Company and reason it joined the Blue Waters

-It sells its services in evil to any who have a grudge to be settled, especially against goody two-shoes. It gets an unpleasant amount of business thanks to its location near Bourbon street.

-Effectively the Evil Assassin Agency, with a questline involving killing the better souls of all the wasteland factions. (Though killing the Blue Water target, a businessman with morals, will still net positive reputation.)

-Delights in offering morally atrocious and corruptive deals, like murder, slavery, drug deals, revenge, and worse. If there's a questline to make the Bayou needlessly worse and make the player feel disgusted with themselves, they'd be involved.

-Has the Pint-size Slasher mask if you agree to work with them. This powerful mask will both hide your factional alignment AND mark you as Very Evil on the karma scale for as long as you wear it. Some people will run away crying in fear.

* * *

House of Blues

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: House of Blues, New Orleans

-Thanks to the bombs falling, now a river-side bar. Run by a retired Blue Water merchant/explorer, it's open to all who can appreciate good water, good food, and good music.

-A very chill, relaxing environment, and perhaps the one place where someone from all the factions can be found in peace. Has live singers.

-Also perhaps the only bar in the wasteland with a supermutant bouncer.

-The home-station of the Blue Waters music radio, run out of the apartment upstairs.

* * *

District: New Orleans East Area

-A peninsula of the eastern limits of the city. Post-war erosion (and nuclear craters) have worn it down.

-A mix of suburban ruins and post-war shanty towns that housed the shipyard workers.

-Occupied by the Blue Waters who captured the shipyard.

-The previous residents and squatters were evicted to make space for Blue Water civilians and mercenary groups. Refugees became squatters in Orleans or Slidell.

-Serves as the mainland Blue Water springboard into Lake Pontchartrain and the Bayou, as well as the eastern map.

* * *

Courier Service

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Lower 9th Ward

Themes: Courier, Explorers, Spies

-Home station of the Blue Water Courier Service, the only cross-regional postal service

-Carries messages from anyone to anyone, regardless of faction.

-Courier Boxes are in almost every settlement, and can (for a fee) take items to a drop box/safe house of your choice

-Couriers are common wanderers along the highways. Openly suspected of being spies, but since everyone plays this trick and no one wants to lose access, everyone respects (and restricts) them.

-The Courier is, of course, legendary, and the reason everyone thinks Couriers are badass.

-Which they are. Courier NPCs can be upper to elite-tier, with randomized equipment layouts and a chance for local people of any faction to support them.

* * *

The Shipyard

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans East Area

-An open world shipyard, at a notably larger scale than most buildings and factories. Large enough to build caravels and carracks, as well as smaller craft.

-The primary location to buy upgrades and repairs for the Boat.

-The crown-jewel of the First Consul's redevelopment policies, and the initial basis of the Blue Waters arrival to Orleans: the first known post-war shipyard, meant to jumpstart continental and international maritime trade.

-The First Consul heavily invested in ship-building capacity, and the Shipyard produced the vessels that made it all the way to Point Lookout and back, bringing with them Punga fruit. These ships, the size of caravels and made from scrapmetal and bayou wood, are powered by the refurbished nuclear engines of pre-war cars.

-The Shipyard was also making craft with the purpose of exploration, including a long-term goal of an ocean-worthy ship (the Magellan) that would circumnavigate the globe. The size of a carrack, it sits half-finished in the dock as a symbol of forgotten ambition.

-Napoleon, more interested in the expansion of Orleans territory than in long-range travel, radically cut back on the Shipyard's funding in order to fund the army. Troop transports and bayou boats rather than trade ships, and the Magellan remains incomplete.

-The rise of maritime exploration was a threat to the Blue Waters water-trade monopoly, and the Blue Waters came to Orleans with the intent to raid and burn down the dockyard. In light of the war, the Blue Waters seized the Shipyards for themselves to service their own ships and build new ones.

-In order to placate Napoleon from overrunning them, the Blue Waters continue to make and sell river-craft to Napoleon, and officially do not sell ships to the Enclave. The Blue Water fortifications and Talon Company mercs are tough enough that Napoleon buys the boats than risk uniting the Blue Waters against Orleans by trying to retake it, or worse open up an eastern front for the Enclave to exploit.

-The Shipyard is a combination of localized dry docks, post-war forges to recast metals, and recycling/repurposing efforts using a local dump and ship parts from ship-breaker village.

-One of the big advances of the First Consul was in discovering how to re-activate nuclear car engines from Racetown to power boats and ships.

* * *

The Underwater Docks

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: None. (Under Alligator Bend)

-Underneath the Shipyard was another, secret dock yard: a pre-war secret submarine base, built underneath the city.

-Only the Blue Waters are aware of the secret underwater docks. The Blue Waters control it, and use it as a secret smuggling route to get goods into the city and even into areas blockaded by Orleans or the Enclave.

-The Blue Water super-weapon, the submarine-dreadnaught, is docked here. Once you've seen it, you can alert the other two factions of its presence, spoiling the surprise.

-Access to the docks comes in two ways: fighting through a long, complicated deathtraps and guards from Fort Macomb, a direct passage from the Dockyard requiring high stealth/lockpicking/hacking to sneak in unnoticed, or extremely high Blue Waters approval.

* * *

Fort Macomb

Faction: Blue Waters (Talon Company)

Old World Equivalent: Fort Macomb, LA

-A 19th century fort occupied by Talon Company.

-Serves as both Talon Company's Orleans Regional HQ, and as the Blue Water's primary defensivive stronghold for the Shipyard.

-Fort Macomb is a mix of original brick and mortar and dirt fortifications and post-apocalypse scrapyard refurbishment. While it might one pre-bomb 'modern' corridor under the river to the Shipyard and Underwater Docks, part of a pre-war refurbishment plan cut short, most of the fort is original with post-apocalyptic renovations.

-Talon Company is responsible for the defense and security of the Shipyard. Talon Company patrols the buffer areas between the Shipyard and Orleans territory across the peninsula. Sometimes a patrol will get in a fight Orleans militia or refugees, brown water pirates, or is ambushed by an Enclave Marine squad.

-Talon Company recruits and trains locally from Fort Macomb. The area along HWY 90 is both a patrol route and a sequential obstacle/training course.

* * *

Author Note:

The first section of the city itself. The Blue Waters own the least terrain, but some of the best places. From the best clubs to the Arena, the Blue Waters make a city that should be at war seem a surprisingly peaceful place. No one wants to fight on Blue Waters turf, both for strategic concerns and for the personal fear of being kicked out of their favorite places.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Part of the Arrangement of the status quo with the Blue Waters is their ability to demand neutrality and open borders with both Orleans and the Enclave. In an arrangement similar to Mr. House's treaty with the NCR, Orleans and the Enclave both allow their citizens to visit and buy from Blue Water locations.


	17. Geography: Orleans: Orleans

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Orleans: Orleans

* * *

City of Orleans

Act Two introduces us to the ruins of Orleans, and opens the map as a whole. Much like how FO:NV's second arc really began once you reached Vegas and found Benny, Orleans begins once you escape the bayou and get your boat. Doing that would involve travel to Orleans for some vague, unspecified purpose.

* * *

Orleans Territory

Napoleon owns the Eastern half of the city and many of the real-world locals, but less of the strategic infrastructure, reflecting Napoleon's relative strength and weakness vis-à-vis the Enclave. The eastern half of the city is also the older half, with far more recognizable areas for the player. While rubble mountains continue to exist and separate the districts, this area was the first to be cleared by the First Consul and is the most lively with Orleans culture thriving.

Being the older half, however, Orleans holds less of the useful infrastructure. Power is extremely scarce, old world sanitation plants and factories were built in the occupied west when the pre-war city expanded over the river, and many of the futuristic conveniences of the past have been lost. For the most part the citizens of Orleans have dealt with this, and are so accustomed they barely register the lack.

The Orleans Airship, a blimp that constantly circles over the city, competes with the Projector to be the eyecatch for Orleans territory.

* * *

District: City Park

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans City Park

-Political heart of Orleans, based on the Central Park area of the city.

-The aristocratic/upper class tinge of Orleans culture, and the heart of high-culture in the region.

-While explicitly open to the public, it is sculpted and has overtones bordering between enlightened and elitist. Bums are kept away.

* * *

Napoleon's Palace

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Bayou Oaks Golf Course

-The actual headquarters of Orleans, and where Napoleon lives.

-A pre-war inner-city golf course, made for the rich elites.

-The Club Building, refurbished, serves as the palace. The Golf Course has been refurbished as well with artificial turf and bushes.

-Citizens are allowed onto the grounds if disarmed. Entry into the palace, however, is strictly limited outside of supervised tours.

-Meant to evoke a facsimile of Versailles by people who've only seen pictures of the original. It is elaborate bordering on gaudy- a symbol of Orleans culture and old-world wealth that will be again.

-Napoleon resides within a kill-room. If you kill Napoleon, you are locked in the room and killed by radioactive poison gas.

* * *

City Park

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans City Park

-A city crossroad/public area in sight of Napolon's palace.

-An in-city farmland for Punga fruit: the adjacent rivers and wetland make it a mini-bayou once you step off the paths.

-Cultivated, harvested, and kept clear by indentured servants who live in orderly scrap huts built on the park's tennis courts.

-Picking the Punga fruit is a right of any Orleans citizen. As long as you have high Orleans approval, the Navigator can pick the fruit freely. If you have neutral, you'll be charged. If extremely negative, it will be treated like theft.

-The Pan-American (Football) Stadium and baseball fields serve as grazing grounds for Napoleon's domesticated animals. The only place in the city to find Bramin at pasture.

* * *

The Orleans Museum of Culture

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans Museum of Art

-A pre-war museum refurbished by the First Consul as part of his culture-revitalization program. The building, while externally looking like the real-world structure, is a much larger three-story building with three wings: the Art Museum, the History Museum, and the Opera Museum.

- Not only is pre-war art on display, but before the Enclave invasion started a 'modern' art show was opening, with post-war art from across the Wasteland (from California to the Capital Wasteland) making an appearance.

-The Art Wing was a victim of Napoleon's militarism even before the Enclave arrived. Its budget was cut by Napoleon for the war effort, but it remains open thanks to private tourism and donations.

-This place would have a special meaning for Orleans-companion Charles, a mark of how the culture of liberalism of the First Consul has faded under Napoleon.

-A person of note in this Museum would be a foreign artist. Perhaps an NCR art snob, someone rich who became trapped in Orleans due to the invasion. An artist from the Capital Wasteland, with a portrait showing the effects of the Waters of Life, could be another.

* * *

The History Museum

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans Museum of Art

-The co-inhabitant of the Art Museum.

-The History Museum wing was rebuilt by Napoleon, not his father, before the war. Unlike the Art Museum, Napoleon has taken a personal interest (and involvement) and sustains the History wing as a monument to Orleans and its military sacrifices.

-The History Museum was re-stocked and serves as a nationalist history of Orleans, honoring the Great People who remade the city, ie the First Consul, Napoleon herself, and some of the key advisors to their reign.

-Each floor of the wing has a focus. The first floor focuses on the war, the second on Napoleon, and the third (with skylights) on the First Consul.

-The War Wing can provide the player the best understanding/'history' of the war, tracing the timeline from the Enclave invasion to the present day. The depiction of events is obviously slanted, of course, to favor Orleans, but celebrates the heroism and sacrifice of the common people.

-Napoleon's section while self-centric and self-promoting Napoleon as the savior of the city and a glorious leader who is recognized by the rest of the wasteland, treats Napoleon's most important advisors in a surprisingly respectful way, and is honest about Napoleon and the First Consul's humble background. Back-room notes will indicate that Napoleon herself had the sycophancy toned down.

-The third floor, dedicated to the First Consul, is by far the most popular. With skylights and atmospheric music, it is effectively a shrine and tribute to the virtues and enlightenment of the First Consul and his struggles in life. Napoleon took a direct hand in its creation, and it could be considered the best art she has ever produced, and the one accomplishment she never boasted about.

* * *

The Opera House

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: New Orleans Museum of Art

-A theatre built out of the rear ruins of the Museum by the First Consul. The more snobbish crown of Orleans art and culture.

-While deep in Orleans jurisdiction, it is the one place open to any faction that pays the tourist fee and extreme pat-down to be escorted in. Both the Enclave and Brotherhood appreciate the theatre for playing pre-war classics,

-The closest thing to a neutral embassy for all factions. The Armistice between the Brotherhood and Enclave was negotiated here, as well as the three-way balance of power arrangement with the Blue Waters. Napoleon, of all people, instigated it because her situation was equally desperate and she knew it would benefit her most. It was the only time Napoleon and (not yet) Governor Hans met face-to-face.

-Each faction (Enclave, Orleans, Blue Waters, Brotherhood) has a separate entrance and a separate, bullet-proof private box on the upper floor. The lower floor is open to the public.

-Which means you simply must wear nice clothes. A suit, appropriate casual clothes, and let's keep those weapons hidden, shall we?

-This is also the location of HEF, the robot companion.

* * *

District: The French Quarter

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: …duh

-The economic and true popular culture of the city, and the living proof of what Orleans could be.

-The central hub of Orleans territory in the city, it contains or has links to everything important in the city.

-Despite being heavily garrisoned and filled with troops, it has a substantial civilian population and is open for business.

-Has an ante-bellum aesthetic of two-story buildings with open balconies lining the streets.

-Was deliberately rebuilt in the recognizable style by the First Consul based off of surviving pre-war photographs. The French Quarter didn't survive the apocalypse, it has just been reborn.

-The French Quarter is in close proximity to a number of Brotherhood of Steel anti-air site, which helps keep the Enclave away.

* * *

Bourbon Street

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: …duh

-The main commercial center of Orleans. It is a colorful, lively, and festive location, with bars, clothes shops, general stores, and other ships of luxury and comforts, including the red-light alley. Basically a somewhat smaller, more populated, more peaceful Capital Mall.

-Anyone not of the Enclave can get to Bourbon street, and for a bribe even Orleans guards will look the other way and let you disarm and disguise yourself. (A Blue Waters service will safeguard your gear for you, for a fee.) The number of Orleans grenadiers in the vicinity discourages trouble.

-A number of merchants line the streets, with small stalls in hollowed-out buildings. While Enclave merchants specialize in high-tech, and the Blue Waters dominate firearms and pre-war salvaged goods, Orleans specializes in lower-tech goods and luxuries. Weapons specialize in thrown and insurgent weapons (grenades and mines especially), colorful clothes and costumes, and 'luxury' consumables (especially locally-made chems and alcohol). The most useful specialty, however, is in crafting materials: Orleans collects the most and the best varieties of crafting goods. All these can be bought here.

-Bourbon Street has drunk soldiers and whores, calling a more antebellum soldier's town than the naked vice of Vegas.

* * *

Grenadier's Memorial

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: National World War II Museum Store (Just south of Bourbon Street, at the Consul Road bridge)

-A pre-war war museum/gift shop that is now the home base of the Orleans Grenadiers. Holds the Consul Road Bridge (heavily mined) and guards the south of Bourbon street.

-Famous for an important battle by Orleans forces during the Enclave invasion. A last-stand/Alamo scenario, in which a troop of Grenadiers fought a losing battle and refused offers to surrender the bridge crossing even after they had run out of grenades.

-The Orleans Grenadiers are the elite of Napoleon's forces, and they have many different types of grenades to match their status. Anti-personnel, fire, and EMP grenades make them a threat to any Enclave force, even before you factor in their endurance and tenacity.

-The endurance, tenacity, and explosive strength of the Grenadiers is so legendary that even if you wipe out the the garrison and de-mine the bridge, the Enclave forces on the other side will not believe it and fear a trap.

* * *

Red Light Alley

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None. (Adjacent to Bourbon Street.)

-The Red Light Alley is what its name suggests. It has the oldest (and most reputable) whore streets in the city. Prostitutes have strong legal protections, and the penalty for cheating a prostitute is castration. Abusing one is death.

-Napoleon, despite being female, condones the Red Light Alley- urban legend suggests that Napoleon was the child of a whore since no one knows who the First Consul's wife could have been.

-Not even Napoleon knows if she was born of a whore, but she was certainly raised by them for a time. When the First Consul journeyed to Point Lookout, he left his daughter with the Madame of Red Light Alley, a trusted friend.

-Said leader is both an advisor and spymaster with Napoleon's confidence. Her girls aren't just pretty, and don't just work in the Alley. Prostitutes across the Gulf Coast secretly report to Red Light Alley.

-Suggesting Napoleon herself was a whore is a death sentence… or at least enough to make any nearby Orleans forces hostile.

-Besides some seedy gambling parlors and other vices for soldiers, Red Light Alley is also a place where the Enclave has a spy hiding out.

* * *

For Blue Water establishments in the French Quarter, see: Littlehorn and Associates (down a dark alley), House of Blues (along the river)

* * *

District: The Campus

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: University of New Orleans

-The primary Orleans military camp and headquarters in the city of Orleans. The Orleans equivalent of The Fort or Camp McClellan.

-The remains of Orleans University, cleared out by the First Consul to provide living space for the people. When the Enclave invaded, Napoleon evicted the citizens and turned it into a military post.

-The pre-war academic material and tools were moved to the University before the war. Some things were left behind, such as parts of the student library.

-Soldiers live in the student dorms, the officers and administration run out of the faculty offices, and have fortified the class buildings along Lake Pontchartrain.

-Distinct buildings would include a student dorm (barracks), a library (military records area), classrooms (fortifications along the lake coast), faculty building (military administrators), and the gym/pool (training area).

* * *

District: The Projector

Faction: Orleans (initially- may become Enclave)

Old World Equivalent: Based on Taltin's Tower. Located on the Bridge City peninsula across I-90.

-A giant, towering structure, akin to a giant movie projector intended to project on the cloudy sky. Based on Tatlin's Tower, the proposed Soviet propaganda machine.

-THE landmark structure of Orleans and the Bayou. The Washington Monument or Lucky 7 of the game, visible even from well outside the city and deep in the Bayou.

-Projects holograms like Elijah's initial broadcast during Dead Money. Regularly shows pre-war animated shorts, generally anti-communist propaganda cartoons.

-The most important radio station of the Bayou, capable of being heard everywhere.

-Located on the Bridge City Peninsula, one of the few Orleans enclaves on the western/southern side of the river. Orleans controls the bridge, and has fortified the length of the peninsula with trenches and bunkers resembling the supermutant front lines in the Mall of FO3.

-The site of the major battle at the mid-game. Act 2 focuses on a battle to seize it and the disputed south-middle of the city.

* * *

District: The Kenner Line

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Kenner, LA

-A military barricade and that stretches from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain.

-Resembles a cross between Civil War trenches and Korean DMZ in density, mentality.

-Effectively the western edge of Orleans territory, and the furthest east the Enclave ever reached. The western over world entry-point into Orleans.

-Everything along I-10 west of Kenner but north of the Mississippi is effectively suburban warzone. Heavily mined, patrolled, and regular fighting.

-Orleans Grenadiers from Kenner have successfully seized the town of Laplace about 10 miles away, giving Orleans the upper hand in the area in between.

* * *

Author Note:

Second third of the city. The Orleans sector of the city is the heart and soul of the Orleans region. It's colorful with flags and dyed cloth on white-washed buildings (as decoration and to cover up the holes) and Orleaners in their festive or colorful clothes, it's bustling with life, and it holds the best sights and culture- Bourbon Street in particular is the regional equivalent to 'the Strip', though with less gambling and more jubilee. In the three-way breakdown of Orleans, the Blue Waters are the places to spend caps, the Enclave is the place to work, but Orleans is the place to live.

The French Quarter and Bourbon street have a pronounced pre-Civil War ascetic of the antebellum South. The antebellum idea is a reoccuring one for Orleans.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Orleans holds the familiar sections of Orleans that have real-world equivalents. The familiarity isn't because these parts of the city survived the nuclear holocaust intact, but rather because the First Consul made a deliberate effort to rebuild the city in the model of the old using surviving images as a model.

Orleans holds the part of the city it does for two main reasons. In-universe, the Missippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, and the urban warfare areas provided buffer terrain to keep the Enclave away, while reinforcements come from the east. On the meta-level, Orleans was indisputably going to get the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, and packing the Enclave into the real-world city as well was cramped and made less since. So the city was expanded as a hand-wave to the Fallout future expansion, and the Enclave was moved across the river.


	18. Geography: Orleans: Enclave

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Orleans: Enclave

* * *

City of Orleans

Act Two introduces us to the ruins of Orleans, and opens the map as a whole. Much like how FO:NV's second arc really began once you reached Vegas and found Benny, Orleans begins once you escape the bayou and get your boat. Doing that would involve travel to Orleans for some vague, unspecified purpose.

* * *

Enclave Territory

Unlike the Orleans, which has the old-world (real-world) cultural centers of the city, the Enclave holds the western half. In the Fallout: Orleans lore, when the mega-city annexed its western neighbors and expanded on both sides of the Mississippi River, the city's administrative centers followed. This means that the Enclave holds the pre-nuke governmental heart of the city.

Governor Hans, faced with a stalemate, focused the Enclave's efforts on redeveloping the western city as if victory had been achieved. The theory is that if the populace sees the Enclave successfully run the city, more will join for its benefits vis-à-vis Orleans. The Enclave now operates as a governing power in its area, not just an occupying one. Administrative and bureaucratic centers have been established, power and plumbing have been restored, and computers and robots are rare rather than almost non-existent. The Enclave Occupational Authority has a sense of permanence, and a return of America.

While the Enclave sections of the city have the 'cleanest' feel to them, with roads repaved and cracks plastered over, it also lacks the color or character that gives Orleans a cultural personality. The closest thing it has to a landmark is a skyscraper leaning against another, and even that is dwarfed by the Orleans Projector. Functional, rather than beautiful, with a sense of conformity rather than individuality, its message of rebirth is also hindered by the massive canyons of rubble that characterize the old world skyscrapers of western Orleans.

While Orleans was clustered into a few, dense areas, the Enclave has fewer areas and is spread out over a larger area. It is more akin to the DC outskirts or Outer Vegas (more of the over-world map) than central DC's isolated segments.

* * *

Down Town District

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Paradis, LA

-The 'capital' of the Enclave-controlled Orleans. The civilian government center of the Enclave occupation.

-The pre-war business/government district. Office buildings have been repaired, some Enclave government agencies even exist in the same seats their predecessors sat in before the Great War, and people wear business suits and ties to work in buildings with patriotic flags. (Flags are often used to cover cracks and disrepair.)

-Thematically a mix between pre-war Washington bureaucracy, and the Baghdad Green Zone. A safe zone in which pencil pushers in business suits are stopped at checkpoints by power-armor soldiers with plasma weapons.

-The closest comparison would be the NCR embassy in Las Vegas, but with obvious efforts to repair cracks and broken buildings and make them look better. Fresh coats of paint, gravel to cover potholes, and so on. One of Governor Hans' themes on how to build local confidence and support for the Enclave authorities is to make the center of governance look restored.

* * *

Orleans Engineering Authority

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Paradis, LA

-A nominally 'local government' agency created to re-develop Orleans infrastructure. Headquartered in a building of Down Town, but also a frequently-seen Enclave-civilian group seen across the map, often with national guard escort.

-Jobs they do include clearing rubble from streets, repairing buildings for new use, extending power lines, etc. They are more or less the civilian civil engineers, created to re-develop the areas under Orleans influence.

-The OEA is distinct from the Enclave military engineers because the OEA (a) includes local Orleans residents/engineers, rather than 'pure citizens', and (b) works on civil-projects rather than military ones. The OEA is a Hans initiative at soft-power to reach out and win local support.

-The OEA and various groups from it would make a good quest-giving source for benevolent Enclave missions. Tasks like 'rescue/protect our crew', or 'find us a tech gizmo we need to do our work', and similar.

* * *

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Paradis, LA

-The tax agency. Reconstituted by Governor Hans to, well, tax.

-Sometimes taxes beyond its administration. Since the Enclave claims all of Louisiana, even if it doesn't run it, the IRS employs tax collectors to go into disputed or Orleans territory to get their due.

-Said 'tax collectors' are little more than bandits or even Blue Water pirates pillaging the rest and giving part of the loot to the Enclave in exchange for safe harbor. As long as they don't do so in Enclave territory, Hans and the rest of the Enclave don't care.

-A possible way to stop the tax collectors is to trick them into raiding an Enclave settlement, resulting in a crackdown by Hans.

-Besides managing the tax bureaucracy, including running the local census efforts, the IRS is the lore-source for the regional economy and comparative taxation.

-The Orleans economy is primarily agricultural-sustenance: scavengers, bayou hunter-gatherers, and plantations grow or gather products to trade. Currency is spreading, but the barter-economy is widespread.

-The Enclave economy is wage-based: people primarily go to factories or perform labor in exchange for wages, which they use to buy products. Resource gathering persists, but hunters and scavengers primarily sell to a few corporate consumers directly.

-The Blue Waters are mercantile traders, enforcing their coastal trade monopoly and occasionally raiding. They produce nothing of value, but live on the excess value of trading goods and services.

-The Enclave taxes individuals by their profession and charges businesses an annual license fee, but doesn't otherwise tax business. Orleans collects business taxes in currency, but accepts labor or service from individuals (such as joining the militia and a month of active duty a year). The Blue Waters tax the businesses, not the individuals, and conduct random audits.

-All of this is lore for discussions, not necessarily reflected in gameplay.

* * *

The Extended Stay

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Boutte, LA

-A pre-apocalypse hotel complex re-purposed by the Enclave into a residential area for Enclave residents in the city. Run and organized as communal apartments. This is one of many others that are referred to elsewhere in the city but ultimately unreachable.  
-Since the apartments belong to the government, not the people living in them, modifications and customization are highly restricted. Not living up to code can get you kicked out.

-Overcrowding is a significant but not unique issue due to space shortages. An entire family will be given one hotel room.

-Infrastructure, including power and plumbing, was prepared before it was opened for living. But maintenance and repairs are always slow, so a repairman for small fixes is always in demand.

-Food and clean water is provided by a dedicated chef/cafeteria. Food is unappealing, but filling.

-Overall life in a communal apartment is dull but safe. Issues of overcrowding and dullness are balanced by clean food, clean water, and electricity.

* * *

The Leaning Towers

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Boutte, LA

-Two pre-war skyscrapers that have partially collapsed into each other, creating an arch. The most distinctive landmark in Enclave territory.

-Effectively a hotel/apartment for the locals who don't warrant a place in the Extended Stay, who were living in it even before the OEA declared it structurally sound 'for another few decades.'

-'Pure' Enclave think locals are crazy for sleeping in rooms with walls you can walk and sleep on, but maintain an observation post on the roof.

-Represents the other Enclave population area in Orleans proper we can come across. Most of the rest are referred to but unreachable.

* * *

Governor's Mansion

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Paradis, LA

-Captain Hans' residence as his position of Military-Governor Hans. The political nerve center of the Enclave in Orleans.

-An ante-bellum mansion that survived both the Civil War and the Great War. The pre-bombs Governor had it taken apart and moved in a show of excessive wealth and ego. Captain Hans chose it as a symbol of American resilience.

-The exterior looks like a pre-Civil War Southern estate or mansion, similar to the White House. Inside, however, it is refurbished and packed with Enclave high-technology and Great War-era technology. The underground bomb shelter is now a command bunker that resembled the White House situation room.

-The ascetic mirrors of the difference between public and private faces of Hans' enclave efforts, where the external welcoming and rustic aesthetic clashes with the internal no-nonsense, business-oriented atmosphere.

-The Governor's House is heavily guarded by Enclave troops. Like Napoleon and Captain Supermutant, all weapons are confiscated. It is also a kill-room, trapping you to death if you kill Hans with your bare hands.

* * *

Ant Farm Crossing

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None. (Between Lake Salvador and Lake Cataouatche)

-A natural tunnel system made by gaint ants through one of the collapsed debris mountains of Enclave-held Orleans.

-The Ant Colony linked various Enclave-held portions of the city as a natural subway system. The ant engineering was good enough that Enclave Engineers admit that it was stable.

-Serves as a pedestrian hub between Enclave sectors of the city, with artificial lighting installed.

-Something of an embarrassing success of the Enclave, who concede its utility and got good PR for clearing out the ant infestation even as they are ashamed to use something so primitive.

-May be tied to a quest about a new, expanded ant nest connected to it at lower levels

* * *

New Orleans Police Department

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: None. (South-west of Hahnville, LA)

-A pre-war police station. The headquarters of the Orleans Police.

-Orleans Police were started by Captain Hans as a para-military law-enforcement analog to the National Guard. They are charged with keeping order in the streets, and in restive areas occupied by the Enclave.

-The Orleans Police are an unflattering cross between Afghan/Iraqi police during the American occupation, and the Chinese government-sanctioned street police. At their best, they are adequate police, keeping the streets calm and criminals from operating publicly. At their worst, they are little more than street thugs beating people into line. Corruption is endemic, prisoner abuse is commonplace, and the application of prisoner rights is selective at best.

-In a case of bringing out the worst in each other, the worst tendencies of the Orleans police are actively tolerated and even encouraged by old-school Enclave Regulars. D.C. Veterans who see nothing wrong with a hands-on interrogation can follow the letter of their law and let Orleans Police do it instead. Frequently done in the name of expediency and war, this obviously leads to both true and false confessions.

-Captain Hans is aware that abuses occur, but has effectively lost control of the Police. The Orleans Police and the Police Commissioner in particular is too useful to destroy, too critical in keeping down unrest, and too connected with the Enclave military to dismiss. The best he can or will do is address specific, highly publicized incidents that are causing an issue.

-Orleans Police are para-military, but the worst equipped of all Enclave forces. Armed with shock-batons, laser pistols, and an armored vest at best, they are no match for any serious military force.

* * *

Allemand Treatment Plant

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: None. (On banks of Lake Allemands, which would not be surrounding by ruined skyscrapers)

-Intended as a pre-war oasis in the middle of the Down Town, Lake Allemand was a disgusting cistern even before the bombs fell.

-The Enclave set the Allemand Treatment Plant during the war, and it is now the only major source of free clean water in the Bayou. (The Blue Waters sell aqua purae from DC, and Orleans tries to filter and counteract with punga fruit.) It is perhaps the Enclave's greatest source of soft-power in the areas it rules.

-It is based on Project Purity from D.C. The Enclave Scientist in charge laments that they could easily have won popular support in D.C. had they managed to make it work back then.

-A quest about poisoning the water-supply with what is believed to be FEV is actually a sting operation. Used to emphasize that the Orleans Enclave, nasty as it can get, is not genocidal.

* * *

Waterford Nuclear Power Plant

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Waterford Nuclear Power Plant

-A pre-war nuclear power plant that went off-line after the bombs fell. The Enclave is trying to re-activated it, and use it as a power-plant to power their part of New Orleans. Currently one reactor is working, but the other is having problems.

-Ghouls in Orleans get stronger thanks to chemicals from the Bayou and radiation. Locked away in the lower-reaches of the plant is a Legendary Irradiated Ghoul who has been trapped in a compromised chamber since the war. The player can kill it with traps or security devices, or try and capture it for the Enclave's own research.

-The Power Plant is right beside The Jail, and is tied into Enclave nuclear-experiments.

* * *

State Jail

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: None

-A pre-war prison, now occupied by the Enclave. Both Orleans Police and the Enclave Science Department reside there. It has a dark history of science experiments in regards to the Waterford Nuclear Power Plant.

-Logs/records show that the pre-war government used prison inmates as the subjects of various nuclear experiments, essentially early experiments on ghouls and ghoulification.

-Captain Hans restarted the prison in an attempt at restarting a criminal-justice system, but it turned into a detainment facility for Orleans POWs and suspected insurgents.

-Orleans Police are in charge of the upper, above-ground facility. They can be considered as ranging from strict to outright abusive towards inmates, many of whom were thrown in without a trial.

-In the underground-wing of the facility, Enclave scientists conduct lethal/feral-inciting experiments on Ghoul prisoners. Governor Hans has directly sanctioned these experiments on ghouls convicted of piracy or aiding Orleans.

-In a case of unethical and illegal practices, the Scientists involve have set up a system in which ghouls simply suspected of sympathizing with Orleans, or ghouls with no crime at all, are arrested and sent to the experiments. Exposing this, and how you do it, would be a major questline.

-The Ghoul experiments tie directly into the Enclave's superweapon program of controlling feral ghouls.

* * *

Camp Allemands

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Des Allemands, LA

-Effectively the southern limits of the Orleans City outskirts, and ends of Enclave-controlled Orleans.

-A military checkpoint manned by the Orleans National Guard, it controls the area between Lake Allemands and Lake Salvador and secures the Enclave's southern flank.

-Being a low-key front, this is a retirement front for old/wounded veterans. Given its location near the sights of Orleans, it's a popular post for young soldiers.

* * *

Author Note:

The Enclave doesn't really have a major population center in the main city. Or rather there is one, but I never really settled on it as an area and generally thought it should be off-screen, like how much of D.C. ruins were presumably inhabited but never seen. This is made up somewhat by the Enclave having a number of towns and settlements in its world-map region, more than Orleans does. Ultimately there is more to the city than is shown, for both factions.

In-city residents of the Enclave live in modest but stable living conditions- there's power for lights, clean water, and food is rationed but available. Above most of the Wasteland and Orleans, and with the potential for even more should the Enclave win, but lacking a freedom and individuality that people value once their needs area already met. Living in the Enclave is a step up for people who had nothing, but stifling and uninspiring with people who feel they already have enough. It's an honest question of which side is 'better' in terms of quality of life: indoor plumbing and electric fans are great, but is it worth eating dog food? (IE, dog. More to come on them.)

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Enclave part of Orleans is the response to a personal post-apocalyptic desire of wanting to see people actually try and start fixing the ruins of the old world. In most FO groups, living in ruins is what you do. You salvage tech here, jury rig there, but what you find is what you get. There's precious little in the way of new construction or repairs- an impossible task, really, so what's the point?

The Enclave is different in that rebuilding the old world is what they do, and they do it far better than anyone else. Down Town is not only a glimpse as to what the city might have looked like in the past, with some wear, but what it could look like in the future. Fix the roads, plaster the cracks, cover the broken windows with flags rather than rubble. The Enclave isn't just remaking the city it is rebuilding it, and that emphasis on clean and orderly society and infrastructure should be a major allure for them. Having a smooth, intact road is a major appeal and draw, and even if you want the Enclave out you'd like them to leave behind the repairs.

Which is ultimately their intent, and a major part of the Governor Hans soft power strategy. The Enclave's infrastructure projects gain respect and envy and appreciation over their roughshod equivalents of Napoleon, and wanting the Enclave to continue them means needing the Enclave to stay to perform them.


	19. Geography: Orleans: Misc

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Orleans: Misc.

* * *

City of Orleans

Act Two introduces us to the ruins of Orleans, and opens the map as a whole. Much like how FO:NV's second arc really began once you reached Vegas and found Benny, Orleans begins once you escape the bayou and get your boat. Doing that would involve travel to Orleans for some vague, unspecified purpose.

* * *

Brotherhood of Steel, Gulf Coast

The Brotherhood of Steel has a major military presence in the City, even though it isn't trying to take it over. Though the Brotherhood initially fought the Enclave during the Enclave's invasion, using anti-air turrets to shut down Enclave vertibirds, Captain Hans negotiated a cease-fire between the Enclave and Brotherhood that stands to this day. The Brotherhood is officially neutral, even though that neutrality favors Orleans over the Enclave.

While the Gulf Coast Brotherhood freely recruits/adopts orphans of the city to bolster its ranks, that's about as 'liberal' as it gets. The Chapter still fixates over collecting technology over helping locals, and goes out of its way to avoid creating or becoming a political actor, refusing assimilation by Orleans. Though Brotherhood Paladins and Scribes take advantage of the shops and amusements of the city, they are called tourists rather than residents like the rest of the city.

The Brotherhood's center of power is the Lower Ninth Ward and Algiers, which they pretty much own. The Brotherhood retains control of a number of small sites across Orleans.

* * *

Command Center

Faction: Brotherhood

Old World Equivalent: Lower Ninth Ward, Algiers

-The Brotherhood headquarters. Its location helps bolster the eastern front of Orleans by deterring Enclave activity. Underground and under the river, it links the Lower Ninth Ward and Algiers.

-A pre-war bunker, like most Brotherhood outposts. It has tunnels leading to both sides of the Mississippi, and in Orleans territory.

-The only known entrance to the Command Center are in Orleans territory, which is where Brotherhood tourists come out to play tourist in the city. The Enclave has not identified all the entrances in their own territory. These become invasion pathways for Orleans in the final battle.

-The main training center for new recruits. Younger recruits, those who have grown up in the Orleans/Enclave governance, are showing worrying signs of retaining nationalist inclinations. There are no Enclave fans, but Orleans-recruited youths are dissatisfied with the neutrality and wish to support Orleans.

-The Chapter Leadership is dedicated to remaining neutral and uninvolved with the War. Their fear is that even if they support one faction or another, they'll be weakened enough that the victor could take them out with ease.

-The player will be tasked to neutralize the Brotherhood by all three factions by the end-game. The Enclave needs you to install an override chip to lock down the bunker and disable the AA guns, the Blue Waters want critical tech for their superweapon, and Orleans needs to ensure the AA guns work for them either by taking control or by instigating a pro-Orleans coup.

-The only outcome that can lead to the Brotherhood chapter surviving is if you support the pro-Orleans coup, but arrange for the Blue Waters to take over Orleans. The Brotherhood Chapter survives as a holdout in its territory, but is never able to overcome the city.

* * *

Anti-Air Sites

Faction: Brotherhood

Old World Equivalent: None (Multiple Locations)

-Pre-war anti-aircraft batteries. Peppered across the city, most Brotherhood Outposts are related to these.

-The guns are laser-batteries of various designs. They shut down virtually all flights over the city.

-Structures vary in size and shape, but AA sites will usually include a hardened-surface structure, guard towers, and a small bunker. An outpost might have up to ten people at it.

-Near most AA sites is a corresponding Orleans outpost, taking advantage of the Brotherhood 'shadow' that the Enclave does not approach. Micro-communities of Orleans supporters/squatters can often be found around an AA site.

-Enclave forces will break off pursuit if any other hostile runs close to a Brotherhood site. Enclave forces will not follow or return fire, even if fired upon from a Brotherhood site. Brotherhood forces will become hostile unless conditions are met, however.

-Brotherhood forces will be hostile to anyone who tries to enter their AA sites, unless you already have permission.

* * *

'Pocket Bunkers'

Faction: Brotherhood

Old World Equivalent: None (Multiple Locations)

-Small, pre-war bunkers built by the city of Orleans to defend against a communist invasion. An implicit Red Scare military-industrial complex scam on taxpayer dollars.

-These bunkers are effectively safe houses with multiple exits. Hidden underground, entrances are hidden, booby trapped, and/or manned. Entrances can be hidden under rubble, in destroyed houses, or in secret walls.

-If the player gets along well with the Brotherhood, you can earn access to use these safe houses. Using one would end hostility from another faction. (Shooting from one, however, would be considered aggression against the Brotherhood.)

-Some safe-houses can even serve as secret entrances to other facilities

* * *

Other City Aspects of Note

* * *

Mardi Gras

Faction: Mardi Gras Raiders

Old World Equivalent: Carrollton, LA and Marrero, LA

-The Mardi Gras Revelers are the primary non-aligned gang that persists in the city. They attack anyone who doesn't look to be having fun. Unless they like the look of you, only the Blue Waters can get you safe entry to their town.

-They are hidden in the rubble ruins of central Orleans on both sides of the river. They use secret passages and a single dock on the river, all of which are heavily guarded.

-A costume-wearing, face-paint wearing group of clowns, dancers, and festively-dressed raiders

-Love to throw explosives, including their distinctive bead-bombs.

-Mardi Gras is their own little safe-haven, and is 'raider town' inside the ruins of ruins the city. Hard to get to, but sells a wide variety of costumes.

-Hostility can be deterred if you wear a costume and a Harlequin mask. (Will make you a target for other factions, but-)

-Can be entered for a fee, with a costume, or with companion Jack.

-Store sells costumes, explosives

* * *

Mighty Mississippi

Faction: None (Disputed)

Old World Equivalent: Mississippi River

-Snaking through the city, the Mississippi River presents a corridor through the warzone.

-Whereas outside the city the river can usually be swum across, in the city the Mississippi River corridor is largely a concrete valley with impassible sides.

-Through the heart of the city, the banks are impassable rubble mountains or concrete walls. On the top, unreachable pillboxes look down on the river and occasionally trade ineffective fires with each other.

-Enclave/Orleans bunkers will attack boat-travelers depending on reputation. The Enclave National Guards will use lasers, Orleans with grenades: inaccurate, but bracing. More dangerous if the player gets stuck or in a boat-jam.

-There are a few disembark points on the banks, to some secretive areas (like the Mardi Gras HQ) or public areas (Orleans' Bourbon Street), and there are also some guarded/sealed gutters and canals breaking off from the river that lead to various parts of the city.

-Other boats travel the Mississippi through the city. Blue Water gondolas can be hired to take you to any water-accessible part of the city.

* * *

Author Note:

Not much to see here- just things that didn't fit under the major factions. Next up, the regions.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Before the unification of Orleans, the city was a maze of rubble ruins and neighborhood blocks. Surrounded by the radioactive bayou, non-ghouls were crammed in the city and the limited safe areas when they weren't having to gather from the bayou. With limited space and resources, the city was in constant conflict for the most basic of resources.

Rather than form tribes or migrant communities, Orleans broke down upon neighborhood lines. Neighborhood blocks were fiercely territorial, engaging in constant turf wars for access to the Mississippi and Bayou while being deeply suspicious of outsiders. Alliances between neighborhood blocks were constantly shifting until the unification under the First Consul, who earned the trust and respect of all the major factions through the cultivation of punga fruit for the entire city. Most of the city's neighborhoods soon joined the unification, and those that resisted were soon convinced to change their minds.

The Mardi Gras raiders and Brotherhood of Steel are really the last two neighborhood blocks to resist joining the city. The Mardi Gras revelers are exuberant anarchists who remain committed to defeating anyone who would interfere with their right to party loud and hard, and have been holed up deep in the rubble for years since being driven out of the main city. The Brotherhood of Steel, while effectively owning its own neighborhood, never had any intention of joining the Orleans project.


	20. Geography: North: The Bayou

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Regions: North

* * *

The Bayou Wasteland

These are places that aren't in Orleans proper and weren't covered in the first act. These include the various settlements of the region, and significant ruins/buildings of note. Like most side-settlements, these have intended quests associated with them.

* * *

North Region: The Bayou No Man's Land

The region with the least civilization and the dungeons and dangerous critters. Low intensity warfare persists, both from the factions and the Brown Water raiders and ghouls and such.

Despite having the shortest list of planned places for its size, it should have the most dungeons to exploit. As the coastline and city are largely reclaimed and cleared, most dungeons to explore in would be in the Bayou.

A number of bayou quests might begin in the city, starting along the lines of 'I've heard of treasure around here in the bayou…'

* * *

Oro Negro (Spanish for Black Gold)

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None. (Deep NW Bayou)

-Effectively an El Dorado type myth, the City of Black Gold is a Bayou legend of wealth (the oil reserves) and danger (the automatic robotic defenses). Appropriately, it's also been lost: even the tribals who know of the dangerous facility have no clue what's inside to associate it with the legend.

-A pre-war strategic petroleum reserve, where some of the last oil stores were located for use in the war effort. It was near empty before the war, but what it has left is the highest concentration known in the Gulf Coast.

-Heavily automated and guarded against protestors and would-be looters, it is a high-level robot dungeon deep in the bayou. These defenses effectively killed the operators and civilians during the Great War.

-High level robotic defenders, high level monsters around it, breaking in would be the climax for a major quest. There are probably two ways to get to it: the 'proper' way, which involves a quest macguffin/key to approach and access it safely, or the extremely dangerous high-combat way.

-The player can get a few jars of Black Gold. Oil is one of the highest-selling items in the game, effectively an end-game solution to money woes.

-The player can preserve the secret of Oro Negro (letting Blue Water pirates smuggle the oil out for approval and more caps), letting it be known publicly/letting the Enclave know (the Enclave seizes it to fuel their vertibirds 'for decades'), or letting Orleans know first (and blowing it up to deny it to the Enclave).

* * *

The Gullet

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None. Deep in the bayou, near Oro Negro

-A wet marsh with an extremely high density of Deathjaws, the Bayou equivalent to Deathclaws, and Bogbeasts, post-war mutant goats which are about the only thing Deathjaws won't eat unless starving.

-Named for the fact that anyone and anything thrown in is sure to be devoured and in up in the gullet of a Bayou beast there.

-An extremely high-danger area, equal to any Deathclaw sanctuary. Deathjaws can potentially knock a player from their boat and kill them while they are helpless in the water.

-Past tribals have created some wooden platforms over the Gullet. These aren't safe points, but rather traps for punishment and execution: convicted tribals are put on a platform, and spend the rest of their life watching the Deathjaws gather underneath. Either they jump to their deaths, or die of exposure.

-Bayou Witchdoctors know a secret for navigating through the Gullet. This is how they place prisoners on the wooden platforms, and also the key to getting to Oro Negro.

* * *

Bobcat Sanctuary

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Cat Island, 8, Louisiana

-A bayou area with an exceptionally large population of Bobcats

-Possibly includes an abandoned hut of a cat-lover who oversaw the area

-A bayou animal den. There are animals dens for every kind of Bayou animal, but most aren't layed out here. They would be used as filler places in the Bayou, and would tend to correlate to the various state parks and wildlife reserves of Louisiana.

* * *

Tickfaw State Park

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Tickfaw State Park

-A pre-war environmental reserve

-Now a section of bayou with a large variety of animals and critters

-A small tribal community, unaligned, lives in some park cabins.

-A hunting area for hunters from Orleans.

* * *

Ghoul Town

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Hammond, LA

Themes: Racism, oppression, occupation, liberation

-The largest town in the Bayou, populated almost entirely of Ghouls. Occupied by the Enclave.

-Part settlement, part ghetto, part concentration camp (the non-genocidal kind). The community's tall walls not only keep the raiders out… they also keep the ghouls in.

-A major strategic settlement at the intersection of I-12 and I-55, with a major Punga fruit plantation beside it. Ghoul Town was a major ally of Orleans and Napoleon.

-Ghoul Town began as a village of ghouls who banded together to survive in the Bayou, which was safer than the violence of the city in the post-war. A number of the Ghouls there survived the War, and watched as Orleans degraded into anarchy. They had little hope for anything but quiet antipathy from the smooth skins, but the First Consul gave them new hope when he came to their village and asked them to grow the Punga Fruit and help restore Orleans. Ghoul Town was an accepted part of Orleans, and even Napoleon embraced them as equal citizens. Ghouls from Ghoul Town were patriotic citizens of Orleans, served in the military, and served as a safe haven for Ghoul Citizens. Ghouls from Ghoul Town advised Napoleon, and things were as good as they can be for ghouls.

-When the Enclave invaded Orleans, Ghoul Town rallied to Napoleon's banner. Ghouls joined Orleans' military in droves, and Ghoul Town was a major bastion of Orleans strength, helping in many battles. Ghoul Town may have helped too much, however, because when the Enclave arrived there weren't enough left to stop them. Orleans efforts to retake the settlement have ended with disaster.

-Ghoul Town has been under Enclave occupation since the first years of the war, and soon became the Enclave's detention center for all suspected ghouls. Enclave Regulars man the barricades, and Orleans Police walk the streets to keep order and stop escape attempts.

-Under Enclave Occupational Law, any violent resistance by a ghoul is considered proof of being feral ghoul, even if it's done with a tool. Feral ghouls are taken care of without any trial or defense. Those that aren't killed out of hand are subdued and (secretly) sent off to the Nuclear Power Plant for tests.

-Ghoul Town, once the haven of Ghouls across the Wasteland, is now the worst possible place for a Ghoul to be. It is where the Enclave is at its worst, under the Enclave Military and not Governor Hans, and the Ghouls get the worst of it.

-Ghoul Town has two major quest lines. The Orleans route is to enable a revolt to throw the Enclave out. The Enclave route is to address concerns of a revolt and local bushwackers, which can lead to the player pushing reforms by bringing proof of the military's unlawful conduct to Governor Hans attention. In this route, the military and police are replaced by the far more sympathetic Guard under governor Hans, but only once the resistance movement is broken or convinced to subside.

* * *

Zombie Town

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Amite City (and Amite Cemetery)

Themes: Witch Doctors, Voodoo Zombies, Plantation Slavery

-A mansion with slave huts outside. Blatant slavery parallels are blatant.

-Related to the Witch Doctor you start the game at, this is a town (his town) of victims of his voodoo zombies. While the Witch Doctor lives in comfort, voodoo mind-blasted slaves harvest punga fruit and other things from the Bayou.

-Something of note is that the Voodoo Zombies include both smoothskins and ghouls, including previously feral ghouls.

-The local quest would include trying to break free of voodoo magic, possibly something you were inflicted with before your escape at the beginning of the game, so that you can kill the witch doctor and free the zombies.

-A greater plot point is the implication that the Witch Doctor is working with the Enclave on how to control zombies. This is a tie-in to the Enclave's super-weapon project, in which they control Ghouls of the Bayou.

-The tribals here will spread the rumors of the Navigator being blessed by the spirit of the Bayou if you do the local quest.

* * *

Tourist Trap

Faction: Independent.

Old World Equivalent: Kentwood, LA

Themes: Lies, damn lies, and salesmanship. Bluffing on a lot of nothing.

-A town deep, deep in the bayou with the distinctive landmark (if you can see it) of having pre-war super-highway rise above the canopy of the Bayou.

-Advertised on all the radios and across the Bayou as the most amazing place in the Bayou, a mysterious place lost in the Bayou whose secrets and ancient technology are worth the price. A renaissance of pre-war history and lost technology, available for all to see (for a fee). Everyone who's gone to it recommends that you do the same. No really.

-Actually a shanty town built on a still-standing overpass from the mega-highways, with a shitty museum and a working air-conditioner a rope bridge away. It's basically that six-hut 'town' of Arifu from Fallout 3, just more huts over more mega-highway bridges that tower over the deepest parts of the bayou.

-Unknown to residents, the next building on the ground past the museum is a state-of-the art luxury casino that is still very, very pleasant and has working facilities including a casino, penthouse with pool, another pool, massage parlors with working Securitron masseuses, a movie theater with a number of movies, a bowling alley, and so on.

-The town is basically a scam to get you to part with some caps: first on the ferry-ride over, then for the museum, and then for the food and lodging while you wait for the next ferry on the next day, and then for the ferry back. None of the victims want to admit it, so they encourage other people to take the trip as a self-perpetuating joke.

-Also, it turns out that previous residents/generations were aware of the luxury hotel, but were keeping it a secret all to themselves. It wasn't until this generation that it was forgotten.

-The main quest for this village is basically a walk-around of the worst-vacation-ever experience, with the opportunity to discover that it actually could be the best kept secret in the Bayou.

* * *

Brown Waters HQ

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Covington, LA (Northern Ruins)

Themes: Filth, Violence, All-Around Cruelty, Cunning, Self-Interest

-A raider-fort, the swamp-pirate imitation of the Blue Water fortress. Brownwaters are hillbilly redneck raiders.

-The neutral ground of the Brown Water pirates, which are the collections of hostile tribal hicks who have opposed everyone and all forms of civilization. They fight each other too, but are currently united against the major factions.

-Entry is free, with complementary lead. Safe entry costs a bit more in caps.

-The Brown Waters are kept in line by the Brown Water Leader, who's one of the cruel men who enjoys violence… but also has a cunning brain looking out for number one. Someone you should never trust, but can make deals with.

-The Brown Waters are currently united against the intrusions of the Blue Water traders. Despite Captain Supermutant's offers, the Brown Waters have also refused offers to join the Blue Waters as subordinates.

-The main story-related quest here is disrupting the Brown Waters. The Enclave and Orleans would like you to kill the Brown Water Leader and bring back his head for a bounty. The Blue Waters will offer the same, but would like you to persuade him to join them instead.

-The Brown Water Leader will agree to join the Blue Waters, if he can do it as an Admiral and enter at Captain Supermutant's top-subordinate level. This requires some persuasion on your part (helped if you are a major stock owner and have collected Blue Water stocks), or opening up a vacancy. Successfully doing so will see the Brown Water Raiders join the Blue Water faction and not attack the player if the player has a high Blue Water approval, though by virtue of being 'hired' they'll still be present as Raiders elsewhere.

-The Brown Waters most significant epilogue effect is that their support is the difference between the Blue Waters raiding, razing, and leaving New Orleans, or staying and occupying it.

* * *

Mande's Villa

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Mandeville, LA

Themes: Traffic, Security Forst, Tolls

-The northern bridge of the Lake Pontchartrain Bridge, held as a makeshift fort by the Blue Waters (particularly Talon Company). Run by a fearsome bitch who goes by Mande.

-Effectively the mid-map divider, and the buffer separating Orleans East and Enclave West. Between Lake Pontchartrain to the South, and the Bayou to the North, and the heavy Brown Water presence all around, the war stops at Mande.

-Faces regular raider attacks from the Brown Waters, while Mande's forces do the same to them.

- Individual protection, including a bodyguard over Lake Pontchartrain to Orleans or access to the fort, costs more. The poor and weak are left outside as victims.

-Accessing the Lake Pontchartrain causeway costs a toll, which varies by Blue Water approval. For a significant cost (ie 5000 caps), the player can get a season pass.

-Mande's Villa is under the iron-fisted control of Mande, a Talon Company veteran who is as ruthless as she is feared. Which is much. Though the locals almost worship her for her ability to keep the Brown Waters away. Her second, Bill, is an idiot enforcer who is too dumb to plot against her… and claims to be her childhood friend, which would explain why Mande tolerates him. Mande would claim she doesn't have such weaknesses, but it's ambiguous.

-Keeping on the Billy and Mandy allusion, they have a third but never seen friend/enforcer, Grim, who's always out killing Brown Waters. Occasionally with a scythe. A Wacky Wasteland worthy encounter would have him be a thin, skeletal man with… you guessed it, sneaky black robes and a skull mask. A stealth-melee build equipment combo.

-Both Enclave and Orleans pay to use the bridge (for spies and troops respectively), but neither dares take the town itself. Part of this is because doing so would provoke the Blue Waters against them, and part of this is because doing so would provoke Mande. She has a reputation.

* * *

Lake Pontchartrain Bayou

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Northern Lake Pontchartrain

-Lake Pontchartrain has been shrunk on the north and west by the encroaching Bayou, which has covered over a third of the water mass.

-The northern and western thirds lake in particular have become wet bayou, with swamp trees enough to support critters or the occasional wooden hut.

-The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway rises above the Bayou as a pre-war superhighway

-Brown Water bandits haunt the northern Bayou area, while Blue Water mercs try to keep them away from the Pontchartrain Causeway

* * *

Lake Pontchartrain Islands

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None

-A number of artificial islands in Lake Pontchartrain

-Created pre-war to help upgrade and elevate the Pontchartrain Causeway into a superhighway

-The islands vary in size and occupant. The smallest may have a wasteland scrap metal shack, while others may have their own (small) pre-war building.

-Every major faction would have their own. A brief list of possible island concepts:

-In the south, a Brotherhood of Steel AA-site. Defending the city from the north, and fought over in the conflict.

-In the Central-West, an Enclave observation post. Points for a small lighthouse, which observe the bridge and possibly as far as the I-10 bridge.

-In the central-SE, an Orleans barracks, a mooring post for Orleans boat patrols for the south.

-In the NE Bayou, a Brown Waters hideout.

-In the East, a hermit doctor (possibly Follower of the Apocalypse) who seeks isolation.

* * *

Lake Pontchartrain Boat Market

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Central Lake Pontchartrain

-At the middle of Lake Pontchartrain, the artificial island serves as a both a ground-level point for the superhighway, and a makeshift floating dock/boat market.

-Run by a benign Blue Water merchant as the primary (only) multi-faction market. Small boat-vendors/smugglers cluster at the island, selling a variety of goods from all the factions.

-About the only place you can find all factional vendors in one place. Not the most extensive selection for rare or high-level goods, but the broadest.

-Has a medic and rest-boat: you can purchase medical care, or rent a bed to sleep in.

-The player can buy a dock slot of their own, for permanent mooring rights for their boat. A good staging point for trips deeper into the Bayou, and a good return point to unload goods.

* * *

Voodoo Plantation

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Folsom, LA

Themes: Exploitative slavery, voodoo zombies, cash crops

-The more evil counterpart to the Orleans Plantation

-A Voodoo witchdoctor turns disobedient slaves and feral zombies into voodoo zombies, pliant workers to tend the bayou crops. Compliant slaves keep their intelligence until then.

-The witchdoctor sells his crops for personal profit, and to keep off the Enclave and Orleans agents.

-Talking/records indicate that the Enclave has expressed interest in the witch doctor's voodoo process.

-Two possible quests. The Enclave wants to raid the plantation, both to free (and recruit) the slaves and retrieve the witch-doctor's voodoo research. Internally, some slaves are considering an escape, and are torn between heading to the Orleans Plantation (where slavery is comparatively heaven, and they won't necessarily be put in the army) and to the Enclave (where they might be conscripted).

* * *

Bayou Armory

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Franklinton Town Armory

-A pre-war military armory lost deep in the bayou. A mix of a pre-war facility and the war of time

-A broken-down building in which bayou swamp is invading the facility, blending manmade and natural.

-While most of the armory is long-since looted, the quest giver has a key to a master locked door with a variety of high-tier weapons

* * *

Author Note:

So here's the north: the biggest region in terms of geography, with the most space still left to be spilled with any number of types of quests and dungeons. I just tried to stick to places with old world equivalents or draws, but didn't touch on a number of things that could be used, including most of the animal dens and such. Not to mention quests I didn't even think of- the Bayou is pretty much the go-to region for 'I found a map to long lost treasure' quests.

If you haven't already, I encourage you to look up these Old World Equivalents on google maps so that you can get a feel for the world map.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Major lore dump on the Bayou here. It could deserve it's own post, but meh. Bayou spiritualism and Bayou ecology is important to understanding the concept of this region.

Bayou spiritualism is decentralized and varies quite a bit between the many witchdoctors and shamans, but it agrees on one general idea: that Bayou itself is not just a place, but a thing. A single giant, omnivorous spirit and physical being that consumes and digests everything. It has many names, but to some tribal dialects 'Bayou' itself literally means 'stomach of the world.' The mouth of the Mississippi is its mouth, the Mighty Mississppi is its throat, and the entire bayou is its stomach. Normally, of course, the flow of consumption is from the mouth to the stomach, not the reverse... but this fact of nature fits the theme of a spirit that consumes yet gives. The spew of the Bayou is the basis of life, much as how a mother dog will digest food for its litter and then spew it for them to consume.

While attitudes and views of the Bayou vary, in general it is not considered a benevolent spirit. The Bayou does not know you, does not care about you, and will digest you as well as any other. If it does notice you, it is for all the wrong reasons as you have aroused its ire. Much like the greek gods of old, the Bayou is a spirit to be appeased and honored, not sought and expected to be benevolent. It can be benefited from, but only if you respect it and respond to its pressures. In short, Bayou spiritualism has the participant orient themselves according to the Bayou, rather than try and dominate the Bayou to their own benefit. Those who simply take from the Bayou but do not give will eventually be consumed for their arrogance. Generally by Deathjaws, the sacred animal of the Bayou.

Thanks to the decentralism, there's a good deal of tribal variance in the beliefs. These variances do not play major roles in the Orleans conflict, but are just some tribal points of view.

The PEEWE slant, shared by PEEWE members and its various tribal friends, is one of the few that considers the Bayou spirit a benevolent, if dangerous, spirit. With a focus on how the Bayou and its plants and animals are a necessity for Orleans, and in how the Bayou acts as a natural clean-up and recycling system for mankind's waste and failures, the PEEWE version places the Bayou spiritually and morally above humanity. They believe that, if Humanity acts in a worthy way and lives according to their tenants of environmental enlightenment, life in the Bayou could become outright utopian in nature, the dangers left behind and the Bayou embracing humanity as an indigenous species.

A somewhat related strain of though is Bayou expansionism. The Bayou, if unopposed, can spread not just through swamps and wetlands and rivers, but even over dry land. The Bayou is constantly, if slowly, expanding, and there is no known limit it can not reach. This strain of mysticism believes that the Bayou's expansion is not just a good thing, but ultimately inevitable, and that enabling the Bayou's expansion through cultivating and defending its expansion would earn the Bayou's favor. This strain of Bayou mysticism, allied with the PEEWE strain, is among the more influential and wealthy in part due to placement. Bayou expansionist tribals follow the borders of the Bayou to cultivate and defend its expansion, becoming the first to be able to trade the fruits of the Bayou with outsiders, while inside the Bayou this line of tribal thought is often the most prepared and knowledgeable of actually cultivating, harvesting, and benefiting from parts of the Bayou. Bayou expansionists have been a long irritant to the Bayou cities for over a century, trying to convince people to let the Bayou overrun their settlements and opposing any redevelopment and harvesting efforts to clear the Bayou. While they had been absent from Orleans for decades, the First Consul's land reclamation program and clearing of the western area has brought them back to the Orleans area in opposition.

A less ideological or end-game mysticism is the debate over what the Bayou spirit is. For some, it's purely a spirit of the lands of the Bayou: a mind, alien as it is, but no body. Others see it as a body with no mind: that the Bayou itself is a creature or being, one so massive other creatures live and die inside without even realizing it. The most extreme theory is a hybrid of both: that the Bayou is a collective of the collectives inside. Not necessarily a hive mind consciousnesses, but a collective of interconnected plants and animals that can be directed in various cicrumstances, to explain some historic spontaneous mass movements of creatures, especially bog beasts and deathjaws, that have been recorded and observed with various effects. The idea of the Bayou as a stomach that devours itself and yet grows is a potent one, and the cultural concept of infinity.

The 'modern' and 'enlightened' viewpoint of Orleans and the major factions dismisses tribal superstition and focuses on scientific answers to the nature of the Bayou. The rationalist viewpoint is that the Bayou is just another evolution and compensation of life after the nuclear apocalypse. It is a complex ecosystem, yes, but not a distinct being or collective. It is an environment to be understood and tamed, not feared and indulged, and every seemingly mystical event must have a rational explanation. Like swamp gas effects being confused for lesser spirits. Mass animal migrations are attuned senses of impending disasters, like hurricanes or earthquakes or pheromones or other things. The rationalist viewpoint of the major factions assures us that there's nothing to fear in the Bayou other than the very real and mundane dangers of the Bayou, but yet... well, many of the most secular Orleaners will still take tribes or make offerings to the Bayou out of tradition. Just in case.

In the more ecological overview-

Calling the Bayou the stomach of the world is an exaggeration of scale, not nature. It takes the idea of the Circle and Life and runs with it: everything is food to everything else, and not necessarily until it dies of natural causes. The Bayou is nature's recycling patch for North America and the entire Missippi, taking trash and toxins and the poisons of the Old World and its fall and turning it into fuel for something else that is. In breaking down dangerous chemicals and absorbing and processing the waste products, the Bayou is actually a natural purifier of the land it covers: areas the Bayou has hold but been reclaimed are often cleaner and healthier for the poisons that have been seeped out. In a long term measured in centuries, the ruined areas claimed by the Bayou will be significantly repaired and restored compared to the equivalent areas outside the Bayou.

Of course, the Bayou's spread is more akin to teraforming than reclamation: the Bayou moves in to stay, rather than move on after an area is cleared. The ecological colonization is fastest along waterways, streams and rivers that hold pollution and runoff that the Bayou plants can nourish off of, but given time even dry and unpoisoned land will be seeded and grow as well. First come the small plants, then the coons and bog beasts that eat and spread their seeds, then the hunters, and within a decade generation real trees have risen and the border has moved on. Unless the trees are cut- which, considering how valuable wood would be, they easily might be. But to cut the trees means braving the predators.

Biologically speaking, the Bayou is not a single organism. The tribals will be disappointed, but they are onto something. The Bayou trees have a shared root system analogous to an aspen tree, like the Pando grove of Utah. While the entire Bayou tree life isn't a single organism, individual groves are connected amongst themselves, and the groves have connections (but not biological unity) with eachother. This allows a sharing and signalling system, so that impacts in one area of the Bayou can trigger stimuli and reactions long distances away. To those that are evolved and highly sensitive to such stimuli, such as Bayou creatures and even some slightly mutated wastelanders, this can be a stimuli to action and movement.

The most significant example of the relationship is the relationship with deathjaws. When a Bayou tree is damaged, it begins releasing a distinct compound that attracts Deathjaws. The signal is also transmitted through the roots, so that other trees in the area will also begin emitting the compound _for the same tree_- so that even a deathjaw well away from the tree will know where to go. While the system does not dominate the Deathjaws, this is the root of a classic tale about how Bayou loggers, while felling a grove, found themselves overrun and devoured by Deathjaws.

The root system of the Bayou offers some long-term questions and possibilities. The Bayou is believed to have a jungle equivalent dominating South America: are the two related? If they eventually spread and reached around the Gulf Coast, would they connect? The root systems themselves: they do form something that could be called a primitive nervous system. Is the Bayou a collective entity? Is it a collective that is trying to expand itself?

In the long term, the ecology of the Bayou will make it an important and interest part of the Deep South, the Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast. Eventually there's going to be friction over its spread, both for its invasive tendencies but also for the profit in harvesting it. Its recycling aspects would make it valuable as a means for cleanup of the continent, both in terms of dumping waste in the Bayou, but also in efforts of selectively bringing the Bayou to you. If, when, the clean-up properties of the Bayou are realized, one day you might see different continental groups try to plant Bayou plants on their waste sites in a long-term effort to clean up.

But that's a very, very long-term prospect.


	21. Geography: North: The Gulf Coast

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Regions: South

* * *

The Bayou Wasteland

These are places that aren't in Orleans proper and weren't covered in the first act. These include the various settlements of the region, and significant ruins/buildings of note. Like most side-settlements, these have intended quests associated with them.

* * *

South Region: The Blue Water Coast

The coastal regions south of Consul Road where the Blue Waters are most prevalent. Occasionally in contest with the Enclave or Orleans.

The south has some dungeons, usually off-shore. It also has something of a raider problem, with Blue Water merc and pirate groups being hired to raid the factions and occasionally each other. Raiders and pirates don't count as Blue Waters for factional purposes, meaning you can kill them freely.

* * *

Ship-Breaker Village

Faction: Their Own

Old World Equivalent: Morgan City, LA

Themes: Rust, under-water terror, salvage center, off-coast submerged sky scrapers

-Before the war there was an artificial harbor and a ship-breaking yard to the south. The tidal waves of the nuclear bombs threw some of the ships out of their dock and from where they were parked in the ocean and put them bow-first into the sand, creating a 'sunken Tokyo' effect of ships simply placed in the sand like sky scrapers.

-The Ship-Breakers are a small, unobtrusive community at the corner of the map. They break ships for scrap, not make them, so they get along with the Blue Waters with no problem. They pay taxes to the Enclave in the scrap electronics they salvage, and are left alone. They're too far away and too minor to bother Napoleon.

-The quest here is that, while exploring one of the vertical-placed ships, one of the village children got lost. Your job is to find your way aboard it, and then navigate around the dis-oriented, twisted ship.

-This quest goes into under-water horror, and plays with the Masters of the Deep. The lost child is beneath the water line, and breaks in the ships mean that there are places the water has gotten inside. Expect to see dark shadows of Masters swimming by outside, as well as sudden thrusts of tentacles probing inside the ship for you. Possibly even a 'boss fight', in which you have to fight off a tentacle that is groping for you.

-The verticle-ship would also be a prime place for a 'replacement device' search, especially if the vertical-ship itself is a pre-war warship.

* * *

The University

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Houma, LA

-A (fictional) satellite campus of the University of New Orleans that survived the war. The ruins of UNO proper were repurposed as a living area.

-Initially (re)established by the First Consul when salvaging/re-opening the Campus for living space. Houma was intended to be the crown jewel of south-western expansion for the Orleans Republic, before Napoleon continued to expand westward and left it behind.

-Fell into Blue Waters influence during the war. Located in the suburbs to the south-western side of the city, out of the southern war zone.

-Initially a public service to educate the population, the Blue Waters demanded a profit in exchange for not simply looting the place. The school became a for-profit school, and the faculty now works on commercial projects rather than public goods.

-The University Faculty would like to be claimed by someone other than the Blue Waters, so that they can focus on research for a public good. Orleans or the Enclave can oblige if helped, with different visions of 'public good.'

* * *

NASCAR City

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Raceland, LA

Themes: NASCAR, rednecks, trailer trash, redundant descriptions, refugee camp, refugee recruitment

-A NASCAR race track which was packed and in mid-race when the bombs fell. The track and parking lots are still packed with vehicles which serve as houses and homes for a modest town-turned-refugee camp.

-NASCAR City was always a small town of people living in the race track stadium or the cars of the parking lot for shelter. Its fortune improved with the rest of Orleans, however, when the First Consul discovered how to re-start the nuclear engines in the race cars and use them to power ships. NASCAR had an atomic engine gold-rush, in which the engines of the NASCARS and Parking Lot cars were stripped and shipped to the Drydocks.

-The war cut the prosperity down before the engines ran out, as the Enclave and Blue Water pirates separated the car engines from the construction yard. Instead, the population has swelled as war refugees flee to the relative shelter of the Parking Lot and the stadium.

-The Enclave supports a refugee camp here, but the track remains an afterthought to bigger picture priorities. Instead, the Enclave frequently recruits from here: manual labor for the farms, factories, or construction clean-up, or even for police and the Guard. Desperate people without homes offer a number of recruits.

-Besides the Enclave, members of the Followers of the Apocalypse are present as well to help the refugees. Even though they don't like or approve of the Enclave, the Enclave is indifferent to them, letting them work and save them the resources.

-Besides the opportunity to just walk/run the race track and jump on the cars, the missions of NASCAR would mostly be about helping the refugee camp.

* * *

Cutoff

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Cutoff, LA

-Eastern end of Coast Road, and effectively where the Orleans coastline becomes brackish-marsh

-A small settlement that is the furthest south-eastern settlement south of Orleans, originally home to tribals who joined the First Consul. They were wiped out by the Blue Waters during their arrival, much to Napoleon's anger.

-Now a Blue Water military camp that serves as the Blue Water anchor on the southern marsh.

* * *

Sunken City:

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Golden Meadows, LA

-A collection of pre-war buildings and/or skyscrapers now off the coast since the coastline change.

-Inhabited by squatters/scavengers.

-The player can dock and climb skyscrapers, and possibly explore the locked and sunken skyscraper beneath the waves.

-An underwater window could be used to provide a Fallout-style take Raputre-escque underwater city (ruins), with submerged cars and visible remains of nuclear destruction

* * *

Naval Air Station

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Naval Air Station (Joint Reserve Base) New Orleans

-An Enclave-held stronghold in southeastern Orleans, the furthest eastern Enclave presence.

-A small pre-war military facility, expanded and fortified after the Enclave invasion.

-An isolated but strategic Enclave position that disrupts the Blue Waters and Orleans trade efforts. From here, the Enclave Marines are able to harass and retaliate against both Orleans and the Blue Waters.

-Somewhat of a reverse-Camp Forelorn Hope, with super-hooah and highly motivated Enclave Marines making everyone else in the area miserable and depressed.

-The Enclave Marines are kept out of the way in this area to help keep suspicions of them from other 'pure' Enclave forces.

-Players touring the site will notice a chapel filled with Uncle Sam-themed propaganda and a poster of Governor Hans where religious icons would go.

* * *

River Fort

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Alliance Refinery

-A pre-war oil refinery, one of the last, on the lower Mississippi SE of Orleans.

-Used as a river fort by Orleans. All factions want an outpost on the lower river to limit/charge trade floating up or down the river.

-Was intended to limit Enclave/Blue Water trade along the lower river and counter the Enclave Marines for control of the river delta. In actuality, the pirates are bribing the Orleans commander, and the Enclave Marines are making their lives miserable.

-Napoleon sent an ironside riverboat to support the troops. The Enclave Marines sank it along the river for a nearby nav point.

-The refinery, while long-since emptied, has a lead-in to the Black Gold quest, and the city of Oro Negro.

-The local mission help the Enclave and/or Blue Waters drive Orleans out, or help Orleans fort be more effective.

* * *

The Hundred Islands

Faction: None (Multiple)

Old World Equivalent: The current region of bays and land west of Chandeleur Sound.

-With time/weather/erosion, what's left of the SE coast outside of the marsh is a wide collection of broken islands.

-Islands resemble the Point Lookout beach of micro-islands, mixed with marsh

-A place with animals, tribals, pirate huts, and so on.

-Not a strategic area, past being a hiding grounds for some pirates.

* * *

Black Bay

Faction: None (former Blue Waters)

Old World Equivalent: Black Bay, LA

-A historic pirate hideout in the hard to reach Marsh/Hundred Islands area. Pirates have sailed from here since before the First Consul.

-Now the home base of the coastal pirates, Blue Water affiliates who have gone rogue and now prey on their former employer as well.

-The pirates are just coastal raiders. Everyone hates them.

* * *

Delta Wildlife Refuge.

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Delta National Wildlife Refuge

-The furthest SE section of marsh, its own isolated island

-Home to some exceptionally dangerous marsh critters

-Possible environmental joke: people go there thinking it's a refuge FROM nature and hostile wildlife, and end up getting killed by it.

* * *

Heron Bay Lighthouse

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Heron Bay, MI. A small peninsula north of Grand Island.

-A lighthouse on Lighthouse Bayou, though the entire peninsula has been reinforced into hills by the pre-war government.

-East of Orleans, it guards/guides/helps control shipping going in and out of Orleans between Smuggler Cove and the coast. Currently in Blue Water hands

-Restored by the First Consul to help trade. Currently controlled by Blue Water Pirates, who are using it as an observation post of the coast to hinder Orleans smugglers from going east.

- Orleans wants it back to advance the same. A target for destruction by the Enclave Marines, who don't want either Orleans or the Pirates to have it.

-A three way help/hinder mission, based around an Orleans attack to retake it, the Pirates intent to defend it, and an Enclave Marine plan to sabotage it during the chaos. You can help the Orleans, help the Pirates, or pretend to do either while secretly advancing the Enclave sabotage.

-If Orleans or the Pirates win, they occupy the light house for the rest of the game. If you sabotage and destroy the lighthouse, both sides abandon it and the Enclave Marines set up a camp inside the ruins.

* * *

Smugglers Cove

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: Half Moon Island, LA (also Grand Island, LA)

-The Blue Waters Headquarters, a pre-war island fort intended to control the mouth of the river. A cove and bunker built into an artificial island-hill, it resembles a cave-lagoon.

-A cove surrounded by nearly impenetrable rock/concrete walls, with a small wooden dock outside on the back. The dock frequently gets submerged under water, making it more of a death-trap for the masters of the deep than a secret back entrance.

-Inside, a 'feisty' pirate hangout. In a big central hall Captain Supermutant holds court.

-Your first arrival to the Pirate Cove is an invitation (if you gave the Pirates the Cure), or a perilous sneak-in (if you did not). You will be found, Captain Supermutant offers his sales pitch to work with the Blue Waters, gives you a complimentary Blue Water Stock, and you are given your boat.

-Pirate Cove is a 'lockdown and death' site: if you start a rampage and kill Captain Supermutant, an infinite stream of increasingly high-level enemies will flow into the locked room. This is standard for the 'throne rooms' of all three faction leaders.

* * *

Camp Cargo and Bazaar

Faction: Blue Waters

Old World Equivalent: None. Floats off coast.

-A massive, pre-war cargo ship anchored off of the coast, with a merchant bazaar on its top. A floating dock surrounds it, and a countless ships of various sizes are moored at the floating docks.

-A veritable floating settlement, it even has an anti-torpedo net underneath the ships and docks, keeping Masters of the Deep out. One of the only places in the ocean you can fall in and not die.

-Camp Cargo (the name of the cargo ship and tag-along boat town) is the merchant heart of the Blue Water pirates. It is the import-capital of the region, with Blue Water ships always coming in to bring in new supplies.

-The Bazaar is the single largest, best stocked, and most exotic shopping center of the game. It also has the most one-of-a-kind 'foreign' weapons, and is a prime pick-up spot for DLC equipment packs and such.

-The second largest ship in the fleet is the Water Tanker. The Water Tanker is said to have made the trip from DC filled with Aqua Pura, and has desalinization equipment as well. Where Camp Cargo is the market and home of the fleet, the Water Tanker is the administrative capital of the corporate alliance.

-The entire ship and docks are effectively a Blue Water town. Access costs money: you can either pay for a Blue Waters boat to ferry you over, or you can pay a sizable (and possibly re-occuring if you lose approval) fee for a permanent docking space.

* * *

Oil Rig

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None. Modeled off of Gulf Coast oil rigs.

-A small oil platform. After the gas ran dry, a pre-war rich eccentric tried to renovate it into a self-sufficient safe house for when the bombs fell. The desalinization tech and gardens worked… but after the bombs fell refugees soon swarmed and took it over.

-Part of Companion Jack's personal quest, looking to salvage a 'Dye Chip' from the oil rig.

-Plays a parallel-parody of the FO2 oil rig.

* * *

Shipwreck

Faction: None

- An off-shore pre-war wreck on a rock. Possibly a pre-war military vessel.

-The ship serves as a moderate-high danger dungeon dungeon.

-Invested with mud crabs and other critters, as well as automated/robotic defenses.

-Obvious location to salvage some parts for the Orleans superweapon

* * *

Author Note:

The coastal region was a lot of fun on multiple angles. I was aiming for a good deal of variety, from soft beaches to rocky coasts with a bit of marsh delta thrown in, and a good number of different types of settlements. This is the non-Bayou region where most interfactional conflict occurs, which makes it an interesting place. There are spheres of influence, but nothing is absolute here.

One of the design intents with the off-shore parts of the coastline is that a lot of the coastal region locations should only be reachable once you have a boat. In the south and west it's easy-ish to walk to the coastline, but the eastern coastline in Orleans territory has a lot more rocky coves and unapproachable cliffs. The idea of off-shore points was also one that I had to cut back on for fear of over-saturating: from pre-war city ruins popping above the waves to stranded shipwrecks or off-shore platforms. You could make as few or many as needed to suite your campaign, or even have missions to intercept ships moving along the coast.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Hurricane season is a big deal for Orleans and the coastline. Over the centuries, hurricanes have reshaped the coastline and devastated the region time and time again. The city endures, the Bayou absorbs, but pretty much everything along the coastline is either built to last or made to be rebuilt. If it wasn't built in the pre-war, when the region government was using 'long-term durability cost savings' as an excuse for pork-stimulus make-work to keep employment up and instability stable, it probably doesn't last more than a few years.

Since the war, actual weather stations have been put up by the Blue Waters on spots across the Caribbean. When a Hurricane comes, the war changes: the Blue Water ships leave the region, the Enclave buttons down the hatches and secures its equipment, and Orleans mobilizes for major activity, as the reduction in pirates and Enclave technology gives them a limited window of opportunity to seize terrain and shift the status quo.

Orleans has made two major war-shaping offenses during major hurricanes. The first was a saving throw and miraculous victory in the first years of the war that dealt a major setback to the Enclave and preserved Orleans hold in the city. The other was a catastrophic disaster that nearly saw Orleans lose the war, were it not for the intervention of the Blue Waters and their deployment of the Supermutant Pirates.

There is no intended mechanic for hurricanes, besides the scripted storm during the Act 2 climax. The sky of Orleans is frequently cloudy and overcast as if it were storm season, however.


	22. Geography: East: The Orleans Hills

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Regions: East

* * *

The Bayou Wasteland

These are places that aren't in Orleans proper and weren't covered in the first act. These include the various settlements of the region, and significant ruins/buildings of note. Like most side-settlements, these have intended quests associated with them.

* * *

East Region: The Orleans Hills

The artificial hills and coastal strip leading into the Bayou remain indisputably Orleans. The entry point of Orleans' Bayou allies and resources to the city, it is more passageway and has fewer permanent settlements. What settlements there are are dedicated to training and supplying the war effort: most Orleans citizens live in the city itself.

Compared to the wide open and easily cleared west, there are more hills and tunnels and even a few bunkers to serve as monster nests in this area. The coast strip and hills in particular, free from the Bayou, are the only real home to classic Fallout beasts such as radscorpions and deathclaws.

* * *

Major Area: Slidell

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Slidell, LA

-The Eastern limits of the pre-war city of Orleans. Holds the far side of the I-10 Bridge.

-Effectively a refugee town/slum for the Orleans citizens pushed out of Orleans by the war. Part military post, part refugee camp, a mixture of Freeside and Bitter Springs from Vegas.

-A number of its refugees were living in the New Orleans East Area before the Blue Waters occupied the peninsula and the shipyard. Many want their homes back.

-Slidell is the area where people with reason to resent the Enclave and Blue Waters gather. They may be poor, but are fiercely patriotic and loyal to Napoleon.

-Slidell is the largest Orleans population center outside the city of Orleans proper. It serves as the main crossing point for Orleans movements east and west.

* * *

People's Court

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: City Court of Slidell

-A pre-war courthouse, re-used by Orleans. A place of public trials, sentencing, and even executions.

-The First Consul instituted an informal justice system, a concession to the lack of infrastructure to perform a uniform one. Defendants would be given an advocate, and then brought to an open-chamber to defend themselves before a jury of all citizens interested in the case. The Jury determined guilt or not, while the Judge would determine sentencing. Sentences could vary from fines, death, to 'enforced community service' (temporary slavery).

-One form of punishment introduced by Napoleon would be 'People's Judgment': the convicted would have to walk through the crowd, unable to defend against anything the crowd might do to him. This tends to be used on collaborators or traitors and other very unpopular people.

-Under Napoleon and the war, the Court has taken a more demagogic, nationalist slant. While aiding the Enclave is a capital crime, even 'insufficient patriotism' in territory that has swapped hands can be grounds for a People's Judgment.

-A mission in which the Navigator can defend the accused would offer a number of potential solutions: speech checks, bribery in private, evidence to clear their name, or evidence/testimony against their client in order to assure a conviction.

-People's Courts can be very informal, and can arise in other situations as well. An Enclave-occupied town that has been liberated, for example, could see one used to deal with quislings and collaborators.

* * *

Airship Port

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None (In Slidell)

-A big clearing, like a soccer field, which is also a port for the big airship that constantly floats over the city.

-Orleans has an airship, begun by the pre-war US, picked up by the First Consul, and finished by Napoleon. The US military intended it as an anti-Chinese observation platform, and intended to give it various anti-energy weapon protections.

-In a public secret, the Airship 'technically' belongs to the Brotherhood of Steel, even though its port and hanger is under super-heavy Orleans guard. In exchange for access to the technology inside, the Brotherhood 'allows' Orleans observers on it.

-Because the Enclave can't afford a fight with the Brotherhood, this is left to pass.

-The Orleans Airship is actually their super-weapon. When complete, it would have energy-deflecting mirrors that could turn bounce any ground-based energy weapon back onto the ground, turning anti-air laser turrets into artillery.

* * *

Orleans Imperial Zoo

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Honey Island Swamp Tours

-A collection of Bayou and Wasteland animals, some in cages and the less violent in open grazing areas.

-Originally private collection by a wealthy supporter of the First Consul, donated to Napoleon upon ascension, maintained as part of a 'bread and circuses' approach for supporting Slidell refugees.

-A mix of zoo and museum, while it channels the idea of early European public zoos it also serves as a history museum of pre- and post-war animals. The information ranges from sound science to speculative, appropriate for early animal sciences.

-While some of the post-war mutants are speculative at best (such as the Big MT beasts), and the pre-war animals hilarious at worst (believing Tom and Jerry, or Bugs Bunny, were historically accurate), the animal researchers running it are putting together one of the first comprehensive post-war studies of wasteland creatures.

-PEEWE has infiltrated the ranks of the works to the point that it nearly runs the zoo. Some PEEWE members see it as a chance to teach and enlighten the public about the environment. Some, of the more neo-PETA strain, think the zoo is an immoral abomination against the animals inside. Outsiders and residents of Slidell think the animals are interesting, but note that in many respects the animals are given better conditions than local refugees.

-An Orleans quest would involve getting new animals for the zoo by using non-lethal weapons and special poisons to knock out targeted beasts to replace or expand the zoo's collection.

-There would be a quest from a Blue Water poacher to kill and skin the zoo animals. You could break in or shoot them, or arrange to poison them by sneak or bribe and then buy the corpse.

-A PEEWE quest would be to free the animals. This can be done the smart way, individually releasing the animals, or the hilarious/evil way, releasing all the animals at the same time and then watching the predators kill everything and each other. (Post-quest you can still hunt new/replacement animals... and then release them again for the same effect.)

* * *

Sewing Factory

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Indian Hills Nudist Park (Western Slidell)

-A settlement of Orleans widows who dye and sew Orleans uniforms and repair clothes.

-Good place get Orleans uniforms, costumes, and related crafting components.

-A pre-industrial factory of sorts, with common working rooms and dye facilities

-Victorian-era morals despite the original local name. As all the women are widows, there's a cultural taboo against wooing them.

-A quest would involve finding a widow proof her husband is/is not alive, and helping another woman find a new identity so she could escape and move on with her life rather than be a spinster for the rest of her life.

* * *

Orleans Training Camp

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Pearlington, MI

Old World Themes: Boot Camp, Romantic Nationalism, Nationalist Indoctrination

-The counterpart to the Enclave training camp, dedicated to turning Bayou tribals and Orleaners into soldiers, and citizens of the Empire.

-Focuses on pre-WW1 romanticism and mentality more than ability. It focuses on turning ignorant, highly impressionable tribals and young people into high-spirited nationalist martyrs.

-Ideological education is red-blooded hyper-nationalism and sensationalism. Naturally focused around Napoleon herself. The romanticism of the mentality echoes 20th century WW2-era 'die for my country', complete with tears that you can only die once.

-Unlike the National Guard camp, which has a reputation for competent (if sometimes unenthusiastic) soldiers, the Orleans camp is notoriously ineffective at preparing the troops for the wars ahead. Jaded, drug-addicted veterans frequently commiserate that where the Enclave trains its people to kill, they were trained to march in parades.

-The Commissar course, separate and nearby, reveals that this isn't ineptitude or ignorance as much as cynical calculation. Orleans doesn't have the technology or equipment to match the Enclave, and Napoleon's leaders knows it. Since casualties are expected to be high and troops under-equipped, victory will depend on nationalistic soldiers devoted to a hard cause, and doctrine emphasizes fighting bravely and with e'lan (fighting spirit) to carry the day by momentum and numbers rather than waste on overly complicated small unit tactics.

-A pro-Orleans quest would involve helping train some soldiers better: either in teaching them to use their grenades more effectively, encouraging the fighting spirit, or how to use combat chems effectively.

* * *

Grenade Factory

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Pearlington, MI

-Adjacent to the Training Camp. Pre-war buildings repurposed to a grenade and IED factory, guarded and overseen by the Grenadiers.

-Orleans explosives are bought from Blue Waters, scavenged from the Bayou, or hand-crafted using gunpowder and bayou products. Hand-made explosives are made here.

-While crafted explosives are usually weaker than the Great War equivalents, Orleans' extensive chemistry knowledge and Bayou components allows a wide range of specialized improvised explosives. High-end hand-crafted grenades from Bayou components are even better than the Great War kind.

-Specialty bombs include firebombs, anti-personnel bombs that do bonus damage to limbs, anti-armor explosives with reduced spread but more armor penetration, chemical bombs that have stat-debufs and lingering poisonous damage, and so on.

-Orleans has even discovered a radiation grenade which unleashes chemicals and radiation. Along with a significant debuff and toxic damage, it also has the ability to temporarily drive any ghoul into a feral state. This particular grenade, ineffective against power armor and more dangerous to Orleans itself, is a state secret. Recovering it would be a part of the Enclave superweapon project, or as a reward for high Orleans approval and passing a Grenadier mission set.

-Orleans makes grenades, mines, and explosive satchels that can be used as either. It also has specialized triggering devices, including timed, timer, pressue, wire, or radio initiated.

-Grenadier lore has collected their explosive knowledge from a variety of sources, from pre-war military manuals to anarchist cook books to Central American insurgency groups. A grenadier-related questline would be to go out and discover new explosive recipes from the other factions, and to take copies of the Grenadier Cookbook to Orleans guerrillas in Enclave territory.

* * *

John C. Stennis Space Center

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: John C. Stennis Space Center

-A pre-war space shuttle construction facility for the US space program. The space capsules were damaged in the apocalypse, but highly advanced technology is believed to remain to be salvaged in them.

-Reactivated by the First Consul as a science center/research facility. Under Napoleon, the space computers locked underground are used to decrypt Enclave codes.

-A facility of science deferred: Napoleon doesn't have the resources to spare in space/rocket research, and the Enclave doesn't have the ability to control the facility.

-Both sides expect the facility to fall to the ultimate winner, and be used by the victor. Orleans and Napoleon, inspired by the First Consul, aren't the sort to destroy computers or scientific equipment to spite the Enclave.

-A good opportunity to discuss the pre-war science program, the current status of the outer space and orbital debris, and the possible role of Mr. House's Vegas space program.

-A wacky-wasteland chance to tap the Fallout aliens, if there ever is one.

* * *

INFINITY Science Center

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: INFINITY Science Center (Caps intentional- I kid you not that's the name)

Themes: INFINITY Science, Old World Blues, AI research

-A pre-war science center, tied to Big MT, that studied AI technology

-Houses an actual, functioning, non-malevolent but seriously bored AI in the underground nuclear shelter.

-Said AI is bored because the only problems given to it by Orleans are military weapons from basic materials. Or, 'how to build a sharper stick and harder rock.' Didn't find helping make the Bayou Cure any fun either. (Data has since been deleted.)

-An Enclave spy, worried it might be another Eden, is trying to deactivate it. Alternatively, you can convince the AI to 'defect' (lock out Orleans personnel) promising it 'cool stuff' (Enclave technology).

-Has some bombastic scientists enthused about INFINITY Science

* * *

The Mason Quarry

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: Kiln, MI (But could be anywhere in Orleans territory)

Themes: Conspiracy theories, self-inflated egos, formerly influential old geezers

-A 'quarry' of the mountains of pre-war rocks and rubble used to make the artificial hills and bunkers.

-Used by the First Consul for crushed rock to reconstruct Orleans.

-The Masons who run the Quarry also claim to be, well, the Masons. Claiming a linkage to the great old conspiracy theory of the pre-war, they claim to be the heirs of the unbroken line of geniuses and men of vision who secretly moved the world in better directions, despite the directions the world took itself. They claim to have been the reason for Orleans salvation and resurrection, responsible for every good thing in the last fifty years, and the means of its salvation.

-The second claim is almost certainly nonsense: the Masters of the Lodge are pretty much a bunch of retirees with no plan besides grumbling about the good old days. For the first part, however, they have a point: the Masons of the Lodge were the earliest supporters and influential backers of the First Consul. They were leaders from across the divided Orleans who believed in unity and secretly supported the First Consul's efforts to become a unifying figure. They do have a network of friends and connections across North America that informed them about Punga Fruit, and they backed the First Consul's efforts to bring it to New Orleans. They also profited richly off of it, and went on to support and advise the First Consul until his death.

-After his death, however, they soon fell out of favor with Napoleon, who had visions of glory and expansion and not being a puppet for a bunch of old guys. Napoleon 'retired' them, and since then they've been muttering about how much better things would go if they were in charge, without actually explaining how they would have addressed the Enclave.

-In summation: a bunch of people with inflated sense of their own importance, who claim to outrageous things but actually were relevant in helping someone else actually do something. Armchair conspirators, in a nut shell.

-Besides back story, the main quest for the area is helping in the running of the mine. Beasties who snuck in that shouldn't have, mundane things, etc.

- For the Masons themselves, they're actually useful as a 'go here for help' source: if you aren't sure of what to do next in a quest, the Masons can make you aware of various options. They may be self-important, but they do have a good advice and a better network of fellow old guys of importance.

* * *

Mississippi Coast

Faction: Orleans (mostly)

Old World Equivalent: The Louisiana/Mississippi Coastline east of Slidell.

-The region of pre-war artificial hills. Part coastal fortifications, part coastal protection, and lots of government pork.

- The hills are steepest near the coast, with actual ocean cliffs. Hills get smaller the closer to HWY 90.

-The hills have a lot of variety. There are Orleans bunkers, but also hiding holes for some high-level beasts.

-While Orleans troops and passive/peaceful animals like Bighorns (or goats) own the hills closest to HWY 90, the areas further from the road and closer to the coast have more dangerous critters.

-Deathclaws roam parts of the coast, especially to the eastern parts of the map. Deatchclaws generally don't like the Bayou (where they are prey for Deathjaws), and are driven off by explosives (Orleans specialty). The coastal hills are the closest to their 'ideal' habitat.

* * *

Slave Port

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: The Louisiana/Mississippi Border river at the coast

-The primary point of entry of imported slaves into Orleans

-An out of sight, out of mind dirty secret for Orleans society. As much as Orleans doesn't like to think themselves involved with the pirates, they are the only importer of slaves on the coast and the biggest importer on the continent. (Caesar's Legion takes its own slaves, and isn't in a geography to trade.)

-Orleans slaves in-processing is much like boot camp. They have been 'conscripted', they undergo basic conditioning, and instruction on what is expected of them.

-Orleans doesn't rely on slave collars and terror to train slaves. It uses a mix of psychology, protection, access to addictive drugs, and most sinisterly of all, basic human kindness that is so rare in the wasteland.

-Before going up-stream into the Orleans interior, slaves are given an ideological indoctrination/education of what's going on. The Enclave is the genocidal enemy of all wastelanders, the Blue Waters are the slavers they were just freed from, and Orleans is all that is good and hopeful in the Bayou, and will take them in and feed them. Given the state and history of the wasteland, everything claimed is plausible or even true, if horribly stilted.

-Orleans offers, but does not force, a supply of crafted drugs and chems to slaves. Pre-addicted slaves, or the foolish, may find them addicted and inclined not to flee the source of their fix. Since taking the drugs is voluntary and rehab is allowed (at their own cost), Orleans tends to view addiction as the slave's own problem.

-The immediate area around Slave Port is dangerous if you leave the main road. The sea to the south, deathclaws along the beaches, and other monsters within. Slaves aren't allowed to leave freely, per say, but most don't want to leave the relative safety. This also applies elsewhere: most of the radioactive-free areas are in Orleans and Enclave territory.

-Somehow, despite all the exploitative coercion of the above, the fact that slaves in Orleans are still treated as actual people, with rights and a guarantee of freedom after some time, is the most effective piece. Other places in the wasteland are far, far worse, and people from those areas will count their blessings. Slavery in Orleans isn't ideal… but it's the alternative that matters.

-Of course, slavery isn't acceptable at all for some. If you don't want to earn Orleans and Blue Water approval by facilitating the slave trade, a local mission would be an Enclave Marine plan to raid and free a large number of slaves before they can be indoctrinated.

* * *

Orleans Bunkers

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None

-A small number of bunkers/dungeons. Pre-war coastal fortifications, now occupied by Orleans.

-Some were complete before the bombs, but others were little more than dirt tunnels made in preparation.

-Orleans soldiers patrol the ridgelines, looking for any Enclave Marine intrusions.

-Many of the tunnels were fortified and held as a bastion during the Enclave invasion in anticipation of a retreat from a defeat from the city. Realizing that the decivie battle would be in the city, not the hills, Napoleon overruled her generals and had forces moved from the hills to the city. It was a crucial decision that bolstered Napoleon's reputation by enabling Orleans to hold the French Quarter.

-Now the hilltops are patrolled, but many of the tunnels and caves have been abandoned. Some hill tunnels are home to farmers for the local bighorns or goats that graze on the hills.

-Other hill tunnels have been abandoned or occupied by animal invaders. These tunnels are the closest thing to caves outside the bayou in the region.

-The reason Orleans is content with hilltop patrols rather than clearing caves to hunt for pirates or Enclave is because the local beasts, especially deathclaws, make any permanent outpost in the hills impossible. Any Enclave or Blue Waters post strong enough to fight off the animals is detected by the patrols.

* * *

Silver Slipper Casino

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: Silver Slipper Casino, MI

-Silver Slipper Casino, an ocean-side casino, was having a special event the night the bombs fell. The grand prize drifted to local legend, now eclipsed by the Deathclaw nest.

-Now a very scary stealth-friendly dungeon. Players can sneak through the casino ruins, hiding in vents or on rafters, as deathclaws wander the halls.

-Ripped journal pages/computer logs through the facility tell the tale of a previous infiltrator and would-be thief. Has themes of the raptors of Jurassic Park, complete with a 'clever girl' climax when they realized they were doomed.

-The casino vault, with a jackpot of casino chips and a Grand Prize, is now the nest for the Deathclaws and where their eggs are. The player can fight through the front, or break in through the back.

* * *

Ninja Village

Faction: Their Own

Old World Equivalent: Hidden in Buccaneer State Park, MI, if going for irony. SW of Silver Slipper Casino otherwise.

Themes: American-ninjas, Hollywood not translating to reality, building competence, spies

-Ninja Village is a small, isolated, hard-to-reach village in the cliffs of the East Coast. It's a hidden village, unreachable to all who don't know how to approach and avoid the local deathclaw patrols. (Or those who use a boat.)

-The remains of a pre-bombs movie set and props for a Japanese ninja movie set the theme.

-Ninja Village is barely a rumor, but Ninjas serve as lone secret agents and spies to both Orleans and the Enclave.

-Super Mutant pirates discovered and have been raiding the village by climbing straight up the cliffs, overcoming the village's laughable resistance. After an ultimatum, they are going to raid, kill, enslave, and steal everyone and everything.

-Ninja Village needs your help to repel/resist the supermutants. You can side with the Blue Waters for some caps and reputation, or you can side with the villagers by teaching them how to resist by teaching them to become competent Shinobi-wannabes.

-A replay of the Little Bigtown defense quest in FO3. Here you can teach the Ninja Villagers to hide like Shinobi so that the Supermutants don't see them (the better the sneak skill, the more of their goods they can hide), fight like Shinobi (melee weapons or unarmed), or set traps like Shinobi (explosives skill, or give them trap-materials).

-Outcomes include the village destroyed, the villagers alive but all their stuff taken, or the super mutants fooled/repelled (best). Successfully saving the villagers will see you accepted as part of the village, and they teach you their own 'ninja tricks', getting you a perk as a reward.

* * *

Gunsmiths

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None (Anywhere in Orleans territory)

Themes: Gun smiths, Hunting Tradition, Gun Runners analog

-An actual gun smith that set up in the post-war to supply the locals with hand-made guns

-Descends from pre-war gun nut enthusiasts who wanted their own guns.

-Facing Blue Water pressures/threats, but valued/protected by Orleans.

-Makes high quality guns, especially single-shot weapons with special powder-bullet types.

-For fun's sake, unique high-quality ammo for single-shot rifles and shotguns could cause musket-smoke.

* * *

Orleans Plantation

Faction: Orleans

Old World Equivalent: None. Well into Orleans territory.

Themes: 'Progressive' slavery, cash crops and drugs, color dyes

-A plantation in Orleans territory that grows cash crops rather than food. Namely, drugs and dyes.

-Plantation workers are slaves purchased from the Blue Waters by Orleans. While they live in decent conditions for the wasteland (tin shacks, mattresses, food), it's little more than a nicer pre-Civil War slave plantation.

-The cash crops tie into Orleans culture and context. The drug-components are plants that serve as ingredients to the Orleans local drug concoctions, which the player can make with survival/chemistry scores. Orleans freely sells drugs to soldiers, both as combat drugs and to deal with war stress. Drug addiction has also been encouraged, though infrequently, to interrogate suspected spies and encourage slaves to stay nearby. Drug cultivation is very profitable, allowing Orleans to sell home-made chems to the Blue Waters. Naturally, drug cultivation was encouraged Napoleon.

-The dyes are plants used to restore the vitality and color of Orleans. Started by the First Consul, the use of paint and dye for buildings and clothes was key to the rebirth of Orleans culture by returning color to the city and people. Orleans culture runs on die, and Napoleon has dictated that the production be maintained even during the war.

-Two sidequests would be regarding the slaves, and an Enclave-supported Underground Railroad/slave escape ring, and negotiating a drug/dye deal between the plantation owner and contacts in Orleans. Doing the emancipation quest second should seriously detract from the rewards of the first. Doing it second, however, should put the plantation owner into such financial difficulty and despair that he commits suicide after realizing he can't meet his contract.

* * *

Orleans Chip Counterfeiter

Faction: None

Old World Equivalent: None. (Eastern Bayou)

Themes: Counterfeiter, Pride

-A rascally money counterfeiter, working to mass-produce Orleans Wood Chips via wood block press.

-While the help is in it for free money, the architect is less about free money and more about economic cluelessness and trying to help Orleans without understanding inflation.

-Quest can possibly include selling the location to the Enclave/Blue Waters, who would abuse the press

-Comically Missing The Point about the Orleans pride in hand-crafted currency, though the architect takes pride in his own creation.

-The Orleans factional currency are hand-carved wooden chips. Factional currencies will be covered later.

* * *

Author Note:

The East was a bit awkward because of the geography of the region. The city of Orleans opens to the ocean to the SE, which makes the eastern coastline further north than the southern and southwestern land. In the map design, this made the eastern coastline and awkward not-really fit with the south, which is known broadly as 'the coast.' This was one reason among many that the hills of the East were added- to block off the eastern coastline from most travel and society.

The East, as a consequence, is narrower and smaller than the rest of the regions. It is caught between the Bayou's triangle shape, the ocean, and of course the hills themselves. Most travel and locations are more of a strip along the highway, with a bit of tapering up to the NE. On one hand this means less territory and places for Orleans... but on the other, this is balanced by Orleans outsized presence in the city itself.

On the other hand, though, the East has the most varied terrain and some of the most varied encounters. The obligatory high-level deathclaw section is here, classic animals, some cave dungeons, open dungeons, and Bayou. There's also a Vault in the area. Plus there's more invented lore of the Old World here than elsewhere, thanks to the old hills. Some actual setting creation there.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Hills of Orleans are a massive monument to everything that was going wrong with the Old World United States before the fall, a combination of great ability and greed and good intentions and corruption and paranoia and pointless waste on a colossal scale even as the world was falling apart.

The Hills were a public works mega-project that were a lowest common denominator of democratic politics. The sort of project everyone hates, but everyone has a stake in, that continued despite and because of its own lumbering mass.

It started as a coastal fortification project against the threat of a communist invasion. China, one of many powers active in Latin America, was known to have spy bases in the Caribbean and allies it supported in Latin America. The paranoia of the time feared that China was building up forces in Latin America as a springboard for an invasion. Coastal fortifications and bunkers were to be constructed to defend against a coastal invasion.

It grew in scale as a pork project as the federal government was open to paying more for the Gulf Coast Commonwealth's continued allegiance and support. Strategically placed bunkers gave way to an excess of fortifications and contracts.

It became a public employment project as economic devastation took its tole. Even as Denver Riots occurred, contracts were expanded to give jobs to the jobless, employing human labor in excess of the tools and vehicles available, just to give people money and off the streets.

Small bunkers grew in size to small hills as corruption set in. Dirt and labor were cheap. Contracts were large. The coastline was even larger.

Any and every angle of justification was used as more and more people were involved. These hills were environmental safeguards against the ocean. The hills were sightseeing spots. The hills were prosperity.

Even as the original bunkers were finished, the project continued. There was more coastline to be covered, more hills to be made. More people to be employed with make-work. More train lines and rail stations to be made to dump more dirt to be moved to more places.

The severity of the situation only grew as the dependency became evident. It stopped being about defense long ago. The region was dependent on the money to stave off societal chaos and collapse as was happening elsewhere. To end the mass employment was to invite the riots running across the nation. No politician wanted that, and so the project continued past the logic of any other sense but political survival.

Towards the end, mountains of holes were being dug into the ground to dig up dirt to be dumped elsewhere. Countless people were employed to carry dirt from one hill and to place it on another in an endless, meaningless task with no logic beyond its own execution. So many were the people employed that there were not enough vehicles and equipment, and so entire hills of dirt were hand-carried between projects. Billions of dollars were being spent not to improve the general wellfare or to provide services or prepare for the apocalypse, but to move dirt, for security and prosperity and the fear of what would happen if dirt wasn't moved.

And then the bombs fell, and the mountains of dirt helped nothing.


	23. Geography: West: Enclave Flatlands

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Regions: West

* * *

The Bayou Wasteland

These are places that aren't in Orleans proper and weren't covered in the first act. These include the various settlements of the region, and significant ruins/buildings of note. Like most side-settlements, these have intended quests associated with them.

* * *

West Region: The Enclave's State of Louisiana

The flatter, more developed region under Enclave control. The Enclave is making every effort to redevelop the area into a functioning state. Orleans, hoping to take control after their own victory, isn't quite opposing these efforts.

Enclave territory has fewer dungeons, generally 'pre-war facility with malfunctioning security robots,' generally not worth the trouble for the over-stretched Enclave. The flipside is they have more small towns and the like. There is also a minor animal problem for the civilians, particularly along the Mississippi and ant-burrows near farmland.

* * *

Gonzales

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Gonzales, LA

Themes: Back-to-back labor camp and gated community

-The Enclave's primary civilian center outside of Orleans. A mix of the outer-Vegas suburbs and ruins, with a relatively intact gated community akin to suburban Freeside. The gated community has its own pre-war walls, while the outer suburb has a prison-camp fence surrounding it and Enclave patrols.

-Before the Enclave arrived, the town was reclaimed by the First Consul and used as a labor camp to house slaves and workers clearing and reclaiming Cancer Alley. Slaves were amazed to have relatively intact houses.

-After the Enclave arrived, it was used to house locals working for the Enclave who didn't want to/couldn't live in Orleans proper. Families of local soldiers, high-skilled workers in the reclaimed factories, etc. The camp is for factory workers and labor gangs, while the gated community is for trusted supporters and high-value people.

-The privacy gates and prison wire still exist- partly to keep bad people and creatures out, and partly to keep workers in. Since most wastelanders want to get in, it's not really viewed as oppressive.

-The Enclave provides power, water, a med center, and a school for the locals, both adults and children.

-The school is a propaganda re-education center. Enclave propaganda talks about restoring safety and democracy In America, and vilifies the Orleans imperial autocracy, slavery, and backwardness.

-A sidequest would involve Orleans spies inside the community, spying and targeting Enclave supporters.

* * *

Louisiana Regional Airport

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Louisiana Regional Airport

Themes: Military Base

-The closest airstrip available to the Enclave near the city, and the closest thing to a main base the Enclave regular army has.

-The gatekeeper to Baton Rouge, it will be the fallback line if the Enclave has to evacuate the region. Watches over I-10, and what's left of the town of Gonzales.

-The central place for Enclave regulars, as opposed to the Enclave Marines or the Louisiana National Guard. 'Conventional' Enclave, complete with the standard power armor.

-Because Vertibirds can fly in parts, it serves as a forward repair/maintenance center for Enclave Power Armor.

-Includes the most veterans of D.C., as well as the late-game 'reinforcements' from other Enclave areas.

-While under leaders who are disciplined, if not warm, this is also the hotspot of the racist-undercurrents and attitudes of the old-school Enclave. You'll find the most disagreement with Governor Hans, and more people who think all the locals who disagree should be shot.

-Has regular Vertibird flights from Baton Rouge, where the main Enclave rear area is based.

* * *

National Guard Training Camp

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: None (around Gonzales)

Themes: Boot Camp, Proxy Soldiers, Indoctrination

-The boot-camp for the Orleans National Guard, stationed near Gonzales. Wastelanders come in, reasonably effective (and usually loyal) soldiers come out.

-The National Guard instructors are Enclave Marines, who act like drill sergeants, and even some Legion Frumentari who are assisting the Enclave for the Legion's own purposes. Purist Enclave refuse to train the locals.

-Training is both physical and ideological. There is an undercurrent of a cult of personality, as the National Guard's loyalty is focused on Governor Hans rather than the Enclave military.

-One of the indicators of the Marines' oddities is their near cult-like devotion to Uncle Sam And The American Way. And their soft-spoken but near-religious loyalty to Governor Hans, and how they'll go off on any recruit who mouths off about the Governor (but won't if it's about the regular Enclave).

-Ideological education has echoes of Communist re-education sessions in POW camps. Some recruits buy in, others just pretend to in order to move on. It balances on the edge between the reasonable self-justification of the faction, emphasizing the Enclave's virtues and the Orleans failures, but enters into naked propaganda. Since most people join the Enclave for pragmatic (food, pay, clothes) rather than ideological reasons, the ideological indoctrination is a mixed bag.

-National Guard training is generally considered effective, if not motivating. While ideological commitment to the Enclave regime varies, most agree that the Guard are effective soldiers, more so than the typical Orleans recruit or Blue Water new mercenary.

* * *

Republic Bridge

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: HWY 70 bridge near Donaldsonville, LA

Themes: River Crossing

-One of the primary river crossings of the Mighty Mississippi. A mechanical bridge like Rivet City's.

-The effective crossroads between Consul Road and Cancer Alley on the outskirts of Gonzales, and thus the primary road intersection in Enclave territory.

-A project of the Fist Consul's, linking the north and south banks of the Mississippi on his expansion towards Baton Rouge.

-Serves as a local landmark, boat stop, and trade route between the West and South regions.

* * *

Cancer Alley

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Cancer Alley. (Most of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans)

Themes: Industry, Redevelopment, short-term/long-term tradeoffs

-Not a single area, but rather the general strip of land along the bank of the Mississippi River. The First Consul (re)built a road of the same name.

-Along the road would be distinct locations and factories, each their own nav-point. Regular caravans of guard-escorted workers would go from Gonzales to the factories.

-Pre-war, a stretch of the Mississippi known for industrial pollution from chemical factories and high rates of cancer.

-The First Consul's route of expansion along the Mississippi was intended to cut down and push back the dry-land Bayou for living space, recover farmland, and reclaim pre-war infrastructure to recover the city. Napoleon liked the first two, but wasn't too good at the industrial redevelopment.

-The Enclave conquered the area and used its technology and resources to restart a number of the factories. Now it uses the factories to employ locals for soft power, produce old-world tools and goods for its own use, and for sale to the Blue Waters to get resources.

-Ironically, the only people who expect to live long enough for Cancer to be an issue are the pure Enclave themselves.

-A common theme of Cancer Alley is that while its long term costs (cancer, pollution) are serious, it's short-term gains can be valuable in their own right. Is food grown on poisoned soil or chems dumped in a radioactive river worth life-saving stimpacks, computers, and a lifespan that might actual live to enjoy suffering from cancer?

* * *

Various Possible Factories to include:

-Chem Factory. Old World Narrative: Corruption, Environmental Corruption, you name it. New World Narrative: Selling chems to Blue Waters (who sell to Orleans) for lots of caps. Possible quest to poison the chems being sold, increasing the already-harmful drugs.

-Stimpack Factory. Old World Narrative: A pre-bombs boom business as stimpacks were in ever increasing demand, and sympathetic worker hoarding stimpacks in preparation to give them after the apocalypse. New World Narrative: Followers of Apocalypse aiding Enclave medicine in the name of greater public good. (Also trying to steal stimpacks for poor.)

-Pipboy Plant. Old World Narrative: A mix of intelligence and fatalism, with engineers expecting the apocalypse and working to develop terminals that might survive nuclear war to benefit the survivors. New World narrative: The Enclave has retooled the factory to repair computers and electronics.

-Robotics Plant. Used as a place to repair Enclave robots, and to make new Eyebots. Possibly tied to the HEF, the robot companion, and its personal quest.

-Power Armor Forge. Old World Narrative: Working on Marine Power Armor for aquatic power-armor that won't drown the user. New World Narrative: Was destroyed by the Brotherhood of Steel during the war to deny it to Enclave. Enclave hopes to repair it to produce non-powered heavy armor for its Natural Guards.

* * *

Salvage Center

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: N/A (Cancer Valley)

-A pre-war recycling plant, built during the resource crunch to get maximum re-use out of recycled electronics and metals and re-using them to make weapons and equipment for the military.

-Occupied and repaired by the Enclave, it now serves as the repair/maintenance headquarters for Enclave technology, taking junk metals and electronics and re-purposing them into components for energy weapons, power armors, and other Enclave technologies such as infrastructure redevelopment projects.

-The Salvage Center is a major Enclave asset, and is so important to Enclave functions that both the Blue Waters and Orleans frequently try to sabotage it.

-The Salvage Center is also a major source of employment for wastelanders, and a major softpower force for Captain Hans. The Enclave pays Enclave dollars for trash turn in that can be recycled, rare medicine as bounties for technology turn-in, and has the best repair-services for hire. Locals who would otherwise starve or have to go to Orleans can make a livable living off of scrounging technology for the Enclave war effort.

-Obviously a source for an Enclave approval quest: similar to the Brotherhood Outcast quest of turning in technology ranging from scrap metal/electronics to energy weapons, and getting your choice of Enclave caps/medicines/approval in exchange. A near-limitless source for regaining Enclave approval.

-Also an obvious opportunity for an Orleans sabotage quest, albeit at losing the Enclave approval quest.

* * *

Napoleonville

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Napoleonville (It's a real town) and Bayou Corne Sinkhole, LA

Themes: Sinkhole, Prisoner Mine, Hidden Cave

-A small settlement and pre-war labor camp along the Consul Road, reopened for Enclave use.

-Based on the real-world Bayou Corne Sinkhole near the real-world Napoleonville, distances adjusted

-Site of a pre-war salt dome collapse, in which a sinkhole took down an entire town into a salt mine, including some nuclear waste barrels.

-Pre-war US corporation ran a POW camp in which Chinese POWs were given breather masks to go down and mine more salt-heavy rocks/salvage the town/clean up the mess, all while selling the exploitation as corporate responsibility/clean up efforts. Very bad living conditions for the POWs, and high accident rate of people having equipment break/going missing.

-Enclave restarted it with Orleans POWs (and local volunteers for pay) for the same reasons, especially rare salts. They don't really do anything about the additional radiation that's come around since then.

-There's actually a secret dungeon/cave system hidden underneath the water, where POWs (past and present) created a hidden refugee camp. The past POWs may or may not be feral ghouls, trapping the recent POWs who discovered the cave.

-The sinkhole is a poorly lit but eerie post-apolyptic scene in its own right: houses stuck in the sides, vehicles and debris across the bottom, and definitely a safe with something valuable in it.

* * *

Cancer Alley Crops

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Thibodaux, LA

Themes: Collective Farming, Agricultural Science

-The headquarters for the First Consul's agricultural agency, now run by Enclave. Administers all the farms in Enclave controls. Excess food past Enclave needs is sold to Blue Waters, who sell it to Orleans.

-Whereas factories are largely on the north bank of the Mississippi River, farmsteads tend to be to the south between the Mississippi Road and Consul Road. There are occasional one-building farmsteads for the workers, who work without direct supervision.

-Runs on an irony that despite nominally being a private corporation, in line with Enclave pro-capitalist propaganda, it really runs like a state-owned collective farm.

-Besides the bureaucracy, scientists since the First Consul have been trying to treat/purify the soil of Cancer Alley to reduce the poisoning. Enclave may employ local scientists/Followers of the Apocalypse to help them.

* * *

Moisture Farms

Faction: None (Originated by Orleans)

Old World Equivalent: None. Multiple locations, including in East.

Themes: Survivalist, First Consul Foresight, Lore

-A network of buildings dedicated to gathering and purifying water. Usually one at or near every major or minor settlement, and occasionally along major routes, they are comparable to the empty farmsteads of FNV.

-They sell clean water. They can, for a fee, clean your dirty water as well. In a Hardcore playthrough, clean water is extremely rare outside of Enclave sources.

-Often have humidity/dew traps, cleaning stations, and components/junk items for cleaning.

-Often have a tub of punga fruit that serves as a filtering system for water.

-Moisture Farms with actual farms crow the in-game crops. Most of these are in Cancer Alley, and Cancer Alley Crops have a small debuff/radiation penalty. 'Clean' crops come from the East, in Orleans territory, or are bought from Blue Waters.

-A project of the First Consul in his quest to improve life and address the water shortage. Along with importing punga fruit, he studied and gathered survivalist traditions for gathering and cleaning water, and shared the knowledge freely.

* * *

National Guard Armory

Faction: Enclave

Old World Equivalent: Reserve, LA

-A pre-war National Guard armory that now serves as the HQ of the Orleans National Guard. It has had a less-than-impressive history in the Old World and since.

-Represents the Enclave's easternmost bastion north of the Mississippi River. Everything east of it is effectively contested terrain that repeatedly changes hands. Right now the suburban town of Laplace, immediately east of Reserve, has fallen to Orleans in a humiliating defeat.

-The headquarters of the Orleans National Guard. The Orleans National Guard was created by Governor Hans in order to recruit locals to fight for the Enclave. There is political friction between the purists in the regular Enclave Army and with the local-born Guardsmen. As the Orleans National Guard reports to the Governor of Orleans (Captain Hans), not the Enclave Military (and the Purists), the Guard represents a separate power base and military force for Governor Hans, particularly when he wants something done that the Enclave Military won't do.

-Helping the National Guard get its act together and drive the Grenadiers out of Laplace without relying on the Army would be both a military victory for the Enclave and a political victory for Governor Hans.

* * *

Laplace

Faction: Enclave (occupied by Orleans)

Old World Equivalent: Laplace, LA

-One of the last intact suburban towns north of the Mississippi, it marks the unofficial start of the disputed territory between Enclave and Orleans.

-Recently taken in a surprise attack by Orleans Grenadiers, who have fortified inside. As long as they hold the town, the Enclave will have a harder time fighting along I-10 and in the disputed territory.

-The equivalent of Legion-occupied Nelson. Marks the start of the suburban warzone section of the city of Orleans

* * *

Author Note:

If you haven't already, I highly recommend you try to find these map locations on google maps. Trawling through google maps to see what might go where was half the fun of creating the setting, and a major reason why some points became must-have locals when the unexpected popped up. Whether from entirely unintended humor (Napoleonville in Enclave territory), surprisingly appropriate (Cutoff, LA being right about where I was wondering where the new coastline should be), or downright hilariously appropriate for the Fallout setting (INFINITY Science!), so much of the outlines of the factions and their territory came from what looked good from the map. Why is Napoleon's palace a golf club house? Because the golf greens and park were the only appropriately placed and wide open area with an elitist royal feel, and because fake grass is the only kind of green grass that makes sense in Fallout ruins.

Some things just came, and others came from a bit of research (the sinkhole), and others were completely accidental correlations between what I intended and what actually was there in reality. Cancer Alley is a real world place of high cancer routes and factories... right along where I wanted a bunch of factories for the Enclave with questionable environmental impacts.

Point is, I'm unashamedly proud of it all.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The West is a response to what has been called Fallout's perpetual wastesland problem: the issue that few groups in the Fallout setting actually set out to reclaim or cleanup their areas of influence, often just living in their ruins and jury rigging repairs than making anything new. The idea of production is so rare that it's a large part of the importance of the Pitt and the restarted production of steel. Crafting is common in the Wasteland, but dedicated cleanup and restoration is not.

The West is the attempt to change that. It started with the First Consul, who ordered the local Bayou cleared. Animals were hunted for food, trees were cut for lumber to rebuild within the city, and as Bayou was pushed back new farmlands were opened up to produce more and more reliable food. Various settlements were reclaimed as the westward expansion continued towards Baton Rouge and the area became more civilized.

The Enclave took this progress, and ran with it. They had the technology to repair and restart the various factories. With raw materials in short supply they were tooled towards repair and salvage, but for the first time new working computers and technology goods are being made rather than trying to salvage a working one from the ruins. They're restoring roads, encouraging cleanup and the bringing in the trash, moving away rubble, and in general are taking the nation building that the First Consul started with and are running with it. The West is the image of what the Enclave society would more or less look like, with constantly strained resources not disguising the remarkable material and infrastructure improvement that can benefit people.

Shame they can be such assholes, though.


	24. Geography: Vaults

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Vaults

* * *

Vaults

There's no such thing as a Fallout without Vaults, and Orleans is no different. Vaults are not critical to the story, but they can still amuse. Here are five concept sketches for possible Vaults.

* * *

Vault Theme: Costume

Suggested Location: Carriere, MI

Experiment Basis: How will people respond in social settings without uniform appearances or standardized clothes clothes?

Special Equipment: Only one Vault Suit, and several hundred various costumes, along with large amounts of fabric and sewing materials.

Result: A socially stratified but surviving society, in which jobs are dictated by clothes as much as the reverse, and in which social status depends on the quality of one's costume.

Mission: Class rebellion, in which 'lower classes' want to overthrow the 'better dressed.'

-An opened, surviving Vault which has produced a caste society. Rather than give people clothes to reflect one's job, when a person comes of age their clothes determine their level in the pecking order. The high quality or more impressive a costume, the higher the status. The cheaper/shabbier, the worse.

-The upper crust of society wears antebellum dresses or formal suits or outrageous costumes, and live socialite lives. Middle-crust specialists tend to dress up as their profession. The lowest class servers and janitors and such wear slave costumes. The Overseer wears a Vault Uniform... and a costume Pipboy mask.

-This vault is their own faction, armed enough to keep out others, and engages in limited trade along HWY 11. Usually for clothing supplies and goods in exchange for power and water.

-Jack, the Androgynous Costume Companion, is from here.

- Jack's character and storyline is a parody of the first two Fallout stories. Jack will be sent on epic quest to get a thread dye chip, so that the Vault will not run out of costume dyes.

* * *

Vault Theme: Oracle

Suggested Location: Bogalusa, LA

Experiment Basis: Development of a group with only one supercomputer as the source for all non-verifiable information.

Special Equipment: A limited-AI supercomputer as the single operating system for the entire Vault, and no books or independent terminals to store knowledge.

Result: A tribal society that views the Vault Computer as an all-knowing Oracle.

Mission: Resolve a contest of the factions trying to claim control of the Oracle from the tribal villagers

-By the time the Vault opened, the Vault Dwellers had become tribal due to dependence on the Oracle.

-Bogalusa is a tribal village. The Vault is the Temple of the Oracle, both a shrine and safe haven.

-The First Consul opened up the Vault, trading the Oracle knowledge it did not have of the outside world in exchange for help on devising the Bayou Cure.

-Bogalusa is currently occupied by the Blue Waters, who are trying to coerce the tribals into opening the Vault in order to take control of the supercomputer. The tribals are resisting, and would prefer to lock the Oracle away for its own safety.

-Both Orleans and the Enclave also would like to control the supercomputer. The Enclave wants the technology, while Orleans would hack the Oracle to tell the tribals to join Orleans.

-In the course of breaking into the Temple (Vault) for any faction, the player learns that the Oracle, programmed with a directive to protect the Vault inhabitants, will eventually turn into an AI. Probably a non-malicious one. While not sentient yet, it has come up with a plan on its own initiative to protect its residents and re-seal the Vault.

-The player has five end-paths. Opening the Vault to hand over to the three main factions, locking everyone out to protect the Oracle, or enabling the tribals to sneak back into the Vault and locking them and the Oracle away for the indefinite future.

* * *

Vault Theme: Mermaid

Suggested Location: In the Marsh or Hundred Islands area, SE of Orleans and east of the Mississippi

Experiment Basis: How long can humans survive in partially submerged facilities that they are otherwise equipped to survive in?

Special Equipment: Vault Flooding Controls, Scuba/snorkel gear to allow breathing in mostly/entirely flooded parts of the Vault, special water-proof electronics and medical equipment

Result: Extended survival of Vault Dwellers, who had to spend most of their lives in scuba-gear and underwater. When the Vault Door opened, they went to celebrate with a swim in the ocean and were never seen again.

Mission: Exploration and salvage. A cache of scuba/swimming gear is sought after by Enclave Marines.

-Heavily flooded with radioactive marsh water.

-Home to a bunch of marsh monsters, such as shellcrabs and lakelurks.

-Unlike most vaults, the Vault Dwellers didn't die until after they left the Vault. The implicit death in the sea to the Masters of the Deep is good old classic Fallout dark humor.

* * *

Vault Theme: Wrong-genre-savvy Survivalists

Suggested Location: Loranger, LA (Punned into Lone Ranger, LA)

Experiment Basis: How prepared would people be for a disaster situation off of pre-disaster predictions?

Special Equipment: 'Speculations on How To Survive the Post-Nuclear Apocalypse,' various survivalist equipment including knives, crafting guides, videos, etc.

Result: A bunch of grizzled survivalists over-prepared for a different apocalypse.

Mission: Exploring the abandoned vault.

-Various humor comes from 'almost right, but so wrong' predictions of the post-apocalyptic world: the duration and effects of nuclear winter, what would mutate and what wouldn't, what sort of societies would develop. Predictions range from almost there to outrageously wrong.

-Predictions that might have worked in California/Vegas do not apply in the Bayou. Some predictions for the post-apocalypse would include machine empire, a unity hive-mind, and sentient talking animals. And zombies.

-Significant rewards for survivalist-oriented players, such as cooking/repair materials, recipes, and possible perks.

* * *

Vault Theme: Under Construction Vault

Suggested Location: Clinton, LA

Experimental Basis: N/A

Special Equipment: None Installed

Mission: Exploration

-A Vault still under construction when the bombs fell. The experiment was not set up, and none of the intended Vault Dwellers were inside.

-The incomplete Vault was structurally compromised when the bombs fell. The roof was never reinforced, and the entrance from the Bayou is through a hole in the top.

-The Apocalyptic Logs reveal that the work crews inside the Vault were spared when someone shut the door. The doors were stuck shut, trapping the miners inside.

-The Apocalyptic Logs track the surviving workers as they succumbed to a lack of supplies for self-sufficiency. Starvation, cannibalism, and mercy kills are all fair game.

-A hope spot for the survivors could be attempting to exploit the un-reinforced ceiling and digging their way up and out. It would be left unclear if they escaped, or were killed and trapped in a cave-in, or if the Vault ceiling hole was a natural consequence centuries later.

-Now it is an animal den for Bayou creatures.

* * *

Author Note:

Short and to the point. The most significant Vault for moth players would be Vault costume, which is both a companion recruiting point and a place to get costumes of various sort. It's a bizaar, colorful, and kind of silly place, where security guards are dressed up in power-armor costumes and the difference between a janitor and a love slave is the love and care that went into the creation of their slave costume.

The rest were various ideas, but I'm most partial to the incomplete vault idea.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Gulf Coast region was less involved to the Vault project than other regions due to being distracted by its government pork buffet. Many of the same resources needed to built Vaults were being used to make the artificial hills, leading to cost overruns and project delays. The region did have some other involvement in the ambition behind the Vault project, but that will be covered later.


	25. Geography: Off-Map Factional Locations

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Out of Play Locations of Note

* * *

Off-map Areas of Interest

Places referenced as important to the campaign factions, but not visited. Typically serves as their off-map base of support.

* * *

Enclave

The Enclave, while substantially reduced after the military defeats of the West and East Coast, still has toe-holds across the continent, hidden bunkers or isolated military posts reclaimed in secret.

* * *

Baton Rouge

The Enclave's personal fortress, and Orleans greatest shame. The crown jewel of the First Consul's expansion plans, the Orleans republic was supposed to link Baton Rouge and New Orleans by Cancer Alley to create city-state confederation that would truly control the Mississippi. Napoleon barely finished the political unification and was conducting a victory parade when Enclave vertibirds flew in, turning a triumphant annexation into a humiliating defeat.

Baton Rouge is solely Pure Enclave, and serves as the primary staging grounds/airbase for continental coordination. A vision of pre-Consul Orleans without the reconstruction or the population, most of its streets are still filled with rubble, making it marginally habitable at best. Enclave forces have occupied the towers, and killed or driven off everyone else. Now security barriers, automated defenses, and the occasional deathclaw patrol keep everyone else out. Baton Rouge is where all the most advanced science and technology maintenance, too advanced to risk leaking, is done.

Chicago

A lingering Enclave base in the far, far, far north. The suspected location where the Enclave High Command, the top of the military chain of command post-DC, has hidden itself. The Chicago Enclave base, hidden under the Great Lakes, is renowned as the bastion of the purists.

Marine Bunker

An Enclave base for US Marines hand-picked for loyalty that was thought destroyed in the Nuclear War. It was rediscovered shortly after the events of FO3 by then-LT Hans (thanks to Bella), and it's reunification with the Enclave was the basis for his rise in power. It is located well west of DC along the Potomac, somewhere in the Apalachian Mountains near Potomac State Park. It has a reputation for exclusivity and secrecy even amongst the Enclave, and is known to refuse to accept transfers to and from other Enclave bases. The only known exception is CPT Hans' personal command in Orleans, for reasons they will not elaborate on.

Van Buren, Fort Smith, AR (Ebing Air Base)

Name-dropped as Van Buren for the meta-reference, in-universe to hide the real location, but actually referring to Ebing Air National Guard Base at Fort Smith, AR. One of the major Enclave airfields across the country which was used to stage Enclave elements from across the country for Orleans, it is the Enclave's central-US air station, used in both the retreat from West to East coast and also to stage for Orleans.

According to Enclave pilots, the Bayou goes up at least that far along the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, and surrounds the base. One reason the base has been undisturbed and secure is that the Bayou monsters have successfully killed all the locals- the capital of Little Rock, AR, is little more than a beast nest.

There's also a town of El Dorado, AR. Enclave pilots would mock gullible locals by claiming there's a city of caps deep in the Bayou.

* * *

Orleans

Napoleon and the First Consul both had plans for expansion, though Napoleon's were grander and more ambitious. Many of the nearest significant settlements from pre-war cities have strong ties to Orleans.

* * *

Gulfport

Orleans' largest satellite-city, intended by the First Consul to become a true ocean port for Orleans once the shipyard was complete and producing a navy. While Napoleon refuses to give up and leave Orleans, Gulfport is the true military reserve of the Orleans resistance. Tribal allies come, train, and trade at this military bastion before coming to Orleans. Without the people and resources and defenses of Orleans, however, Gulfport would inevitably fall to Enclave forces.

Mobile

The closest thing Orleans has to a coastal rival along the Gulf Coast, which isn't saying much. Deeply encroached by the Bayou, and lacking the trade, the river traffic, and especially the Punga fruit, Mobile is a den to a thousand tribal boat clans. Fortunately they are as impressed with Orleans culture as they hate the Blue Water pirates who have raided them, and so are a significant source of recruits for Orleans. On their own they couldn't organize a major threat, but they can feed the Orleans war machine.

While the First Consul cultivated Mobile for allies and good relations, Napoleon's imperialistic dreams have a more expansionist goal. Napoleon's desire for a Gulf Coast empire explicitly would have included the annexation of Mobile Bay for eastward expansion. Not all Mobilers would have been opposed, either.

Hattiesburg, LA/Brookhaven, MI/Natchez, MI/Alexandria LA

Some of the deep-bayou cities that have become tribal chiefdoms since the war. Their ruins, pitiful even compared to Orleans after the war, none the less dominate significant chunks of the Bayou. Short-lived kingdoms with even shorter-lived kings, the Deep Bayou City-States were courted and impressed enough by the First Consul and Orleans that they were distant allies, sending extra forces (dissidents and mouths they couldn't feed) to Orleans… until Enclave agents made gifts and offerings, and got the same deal. Some of these persons fight for Orleans, and some turn around and work for the Enclave: the Chiefs don't really care, so long as both sides attempt to court them. Distant enough that they are well outside the conflict zone, they are a fickle and unreliable set of allies. Despite this, their manpower is irreplaceable, and even preferable to the Blue Water pirates.

Ideally each chiefdom would be associated with a specific sort of tribal fighter, aside from those who willingly assimilate to Enclave/Orleans culture, but no city-tribe relationship is decided.

Lafayette, LA/Franklin, LA

The planed but never completed western expansion of Orleans and the Coast Road. The First Consul's vision for the Republic was a four-city state that would control the Mississippi River and southern Louisiana, serving as a new quasi-French Republic. Gulfport would be the blue water port that guarded Orleans from the East, Baton Rouge would guard Orleans from the North and the Bayou, and Lafayette would be the western flank that would guard against threats like the Legion.

Napoleon's vision of an empire, while more expansionist and focused along the coast, did have a small colony repairing Lafayette before the Enclave arrival. Too small, distant, and insignificant to matter, whoever claims Orleans will doubtless dominate Lafayette as well.

* * *

Blue Waters

Maritime traders and pirates without a port to call home, the Blue Waters are the widest traveled faction to date. They've sailed both ocean coasts of North American, and even touched South America as well.

* * *

The Caribbean

Fewer bombs fell on the many islands of the Caribbean, but considering the size fewer needed to. What islands aren't uninhabitable radioactive tend to be occupied by tribes of cannibals, ghouls, or a mix of the three. The mutant sea monsters, some amphibious, don't help. Though the Blue Waters occasionally recruit and have some outposts on smaller islands, no significant civilizations have popped up yet. Considering ambient radiation driving ghouls feral, and the seasonal hurricanes that pound the region into a cauldron, no one expects any.

The Caribbean features heavily into the long-term goals of Captain Supermutant. First and foremost, the Captain has relocated as many Supermutants as he can find and recruit to live on the islands, keeping extinction-vulnerable mutants from being endangered by mainland human societies that might kill them. Besides helping to preserve his species, this also factors into his ideal end-game…

Cuba

Heavily bombed in the Great War by multiple factions, the destruction of so many deployed nukes and nuclear stockpiles on Cuba is has left ambient levels of radiation that render human habitation almost impossible. There are a few small ghoul kingdoms/chiefdoms that have spread across the island, but the ambient radiation eventually drives most ghouls mad. Those who take to the seas are better off, and Havana is known as a ghoul-pirate port- or at least was, before Captain Supermutant led his force of supermutants to conquer the town and co-opt many of the pirates. Now many of those ghoul pirates serve the Blue Waters, which has a tenuous grasp of Havana and the ports of the island. While Captain Supermutant successfully dominates the pirates and their ships, land-lubbers who wouldn't submit have retreated inland across the islands and harass the Blue Waters whenever possible.

Cuba represents the end-game for Captain Supermutant's plans for the Blue Water alliance. Once the Blue Waters find the Cure of the Bayou, which blocks ambient radiation from killing humans/turning ghouls feral, the Blue Waters will be able to fully conquer and colonize Cuba and the Gulf Coast, turning it into a home port no continental power can march on. The corporate alliance will shift into a maritime empire which can dominate not only the Caribbean and Gulf Coast, but eventually seek out and claim strategic islands and sea lanes across the world to dominate the return of maritime trade. Eventually the post-apocalypse world will reconnect thanks to the return of trade, and be united by Blue Waters.

Unless, of course, a Gulf Coast civilization rises with the maritime power that could endanger that goal. Bringing a potential rival low was the primary reason Captain Supermutant got involved in this whole war.

Latin America

A vague place of mystery and exotic danger. One of the pre-war consequences of Fallout's isolationist, paranoid America was a much more self-driven and divided Latin America that was also a chessboard for the global great game. American-supported banana republics were a redundant, not primary, cause of the division and strife: even aside from ChiCom insurgencies, Soviet insurgencies, and European meddling, the escalating animosities and struggles of the resource wars took their own toll. By the end, every country had its own nukes, its own insurgency supported by someone else, and its own grudge with a neighbor. Even the revolutionary movements claiming it was all the Americans/capitalists/communists/-insert someone else' fault tended to have a more immediate worst enemy closer to home. While America was nuked by China, and Europe and the Middle East fought to the death, Latin America leveled itself.

Now it's… not clear. Between radioactive waters, mutant terrors from the deep, raiders and pirates, and the occasional storm, coastal settlements past 'beach hut' are rare and rarely last long. No coastal city has unified yet, even further south, and the Amazon-based Bayou dominates the east of the continent. There are tales of inland states and kingdoms, but nothing clear. The pre-war insurgencies have had an almost legendary perseverance.

Nothing has survived or spread like the insurgencies, which have left an ideological tint to the regional raiders. No nation or city seems to be able to rise without some ideologically-opposed raider group or three dedicated to taking it down. No other region has raider groups quite so good at anti-state warfare either. According to one Blue Water explorer, the Capital Wasteland's raiders were amateurs by comparison, and Orleans a near paradise in contrast. Even Caesar's Legion would likely be stalled by the constant state of guerrilla war.

One important piece of lore added is the idea that the Great Game spread to Latin America in its own right. One particular event of note was the smuggling of FEV out of America before the war's end by the Chinese spy ring known as 'Red Jewel.' Replicated, sold to, or stolen by multiple parties, by the time the nukes fell FEV was already in the hands of parties across the globe. Captain Supermutant and his supermutant pirates in particular have been interested in trying to find and secure these mythical stores, both for FEV's own value and to preserve their race. Depending on what truly occurs on some of the supermutant-occupied islands in the Caribbean, he may already have.

* * *

Author Note:

A bit of worldbuilding outside the actual Orleans map, which is fun. Playing with Latin America is exciting and yet tricky, considering the Fallout setting's focus on the US. I was always determined that the Caribbean region would have no current rivals to counter the rise of Orleans, but I didn't want to disavow any future Latin America plotlines. So it's basically the Dark Continent, unknown and unknowable, with super-raider guerilla groups hounding the amazon (which may or may not be as bad as the Bayou). If there is a civilization on the rise in Latin America, it's either somewhere in the interior or far, far down the Southern coasts. The Blue Waters haven't sailed as far as central Chile or Argentina quite yet, though Captain Supermutant has plans for the Falklands.

Naked hand-wave addition to the lore to justify gameplay-worthy numbers of supermutants in the Orleans setting, and for future games. While Orleans could get away with the supermutant pirates being recruited in-mass from DC, with some of the Master's Army to boot, I always felt there should be more space in the setting for supermutants elsewhere. The Great Game to spread FEV seemed like a good way to justify the existence elsewhere. So if you ever want to write your own Fallout setting and need a justification for supermutants outside of America... you're welcome.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

So, thoughts on the greater world concepts of the major factions. This goes a bit heavier into the Enclave for Reasons, and also delves into the very broadest strokes of population estimates and rationals.

Orleans, as is well established by now, is a city-state which is going to dominate the region by virtue of no real competition. It's the biggest, bestest, most important city in the Caribbean coast, not least because it's the most livable. The other coastal states struggle to even be livable, and are so divided and destroyed that they barely warrant being called cities. For the foreseeable future Orleans is probably going to be the only power by default, and even if some Caesar-wannabe did rise up and unify a city by brute force, the simple terrain and environment would prevent them from expanding to become a meaningful threat or rival to a maritime power. Because of this, all of Orlean's closest 'neighbors' are small, impoverished places already under heavy cultural influence. Before the First Consul, the city of Orleans was still the biggest, 'safest' patch of radiation-free terrain in the Bayou and Caribbean, and had a population of around 100,000. Thanks to the introduction of anti-radiation punga fruit and the general benefits of unification development allowing longer lives and more immigration (and slave imports), in two decades since the First Consul Orleans is now having a population explosion to around 225,000 across the immediate region, with roughly 25,000 of those being imported slaves and their descendents. The Orleans Empire and Napoleon can claim maybe 100,000 of the region at the current time, and no more than 15 to 20% have ever been mobilized at the most extreme periods of fighting. (By comparison, in WW2 the US only mobilized about 12% of its population.) The 'average' standing Orleans force for Napoleon during the status quo is closer to 10%, or 10,000, with swings for the fighting season or needed resets.

The Blue Waters are basically the new kid on the block, a rising faction that's still unifying and is so new its prospects and intent are unclear to most of the wasteland. Most people think of the Blue Waters as the boat people who have always been sailing around the Caribbean and along the coasts. Instead the Blue Waters are the most actively strategic maritime power in the known world, aggressively exploring and claiming strategic terrain in anticipation of its future value and influence. The Blue Waters basically want to claim every significant and valuable island they can, and even some mainland enclaves for strategic waterways. Any island they could get away with claiming, colonizing, or even conquering, they probably will: for now it's Cuba, but Captain Supermutant has designs on not just the Caribbean but the Falklands, the mid-atlantic island, Hawaii, and as much of the Pacific Rim as possible. When everyone else starts building boats, the Blue Waters want to be holding all the best islands and ports from the start to dominate international trade. It's extremely hard to put a number of the Blue Waters as a population, but between all their ships and companies and hired mercs, they might be around 50,000 to 100,000 depending on the swings of employment. Only a fraction would be in the Orleans region at any given time, though: 4,000 to 8,000 mercenaries hired out to all sides and factions would be typical, with the allocation ratio being used to balance the Enclave and Orleans.

As for the Enclave... here's to sketching out the concept of where the Enclave stands after both FO2 and FO3 portrayed them as having catrastrophic/near-fatal defeats. In this context they had... catastrophic, but not quite fatal.

The basic premise is that the Enclave spent more reclaiming hidden bases and more success evacuating Navarro then most in the Wasteland realized. Even before the Oil Rig was destroyed, the Enclave was moving people out and through Navarro into various bunkers in preparation to establish a network of outposts across the country. By the time the Oil Rig did fall it was more of the reserve command compound than the home of all the Enclave, and Navarro was largely evacuated long before it ultimately fell to the NCR. It was a horrible military loss, but not quite the population loss.

The Enclave diaspora spread across the country from west to east, reclaiming hidden bunkers and facilities of various types and nature. Some Enclave personnel, like those who fled to to Mohave, gave up and moved on. Others turned those bunkers into new homes and carried on. The Enclave went from a solitary enclave to a hidden network across the country, with various stations ranging from double to triple digits. From these various bases the Enclave reorganized and gradually moved towards D.C., where the Mobile Crawler and Raven Rock forces together house and support an Enclave population group of the low four digits, soldiers and reserve personnel combined. This is by far the largest concentration of Enclave personnel and military forces, roughly equal to the rest of the bunker network still in hiding.

FO3 is a disaster, with Raven Rock and the Mobile Crawler destroyed. The Enclave in DC scatter: losses are staggering, between a third and half of the entire DC expedition, but unlike the fall of Navarro the existence of secret bunkers and bases helps collect up and save the remnants. Fewer go native or into hiding, and most who survive rejoin the Enclave network. The Enclave has a body enough to survive... but it is so distributed that it can't concentrate the numbers it does have to win any local war. If, when, the network bases are found, they'll eventually be ground out.

Then comes the discovery of the Marine Bunker by Governor Hans. A pre-war Enclave project with a population in the high triple digits, an entire battalion of Enclave Marines suddenly appears and basically make up the losses of both D.C. It's a desperately needed third wind, and while the marines are only a quarter or fifth of the Enclave they are the decisive enabler for any future engagement. Without the Marines the Enclave can only organize a small force at best, but with the Marines the Enclave has a large enough army to have a real chance to take over a city- assuming that said city is militarily weak and technologically primitive and unlikely to get any reinforcements from any of the other rising wasteland powers.

The selection process ultimately targets Orleans, a long-term strategic winner aided by the First Consul's redevelopment and relatively weak militarism. The Enclave spends nearly a decade recouping and reorganizing after D.C., prepares its invasion, and launches what it can into another last chance. The majority of the Enclave's eggs are in the basket that is Orleans, though small nests remain hidden across the continent. After the initial push and over-stretch in fighting the Brotherhood, once the status quo settled in some Enclave forces have been returned to the other bases to reset and retool in preparation for the last big push. Baring another discovery along the lines of the Marines, this is the last big chance for an Enclave military victory.

Or so the narrative goes. There's some unapologetic handwaving going on, especially about the size of the Enclave population to start with. Fallout is never really good about giving a proper sense of scale: terrain alone is always skewed, and populations in-game rarely make narrative sense considering the gameplay depictions. The NCR supposedly encompasses over a million people. How many people can live in the vaults? With the Enclave, that means it's never really clear how many people were in the Enclave in the first place. It's an oil rig... but an especially big one, with plenty we don't see, and who knows how many people on or off it. It all comes down to what makes sense as the original Enclave population at its height. 1,000 in FO2 would be too small to explain D.C., but 10,000 would be too large for the Oil Rig.

In my sense of scale, a starting population of 5,000 would make sense between the Oil Rig and Navarro and other bases. Say that half are lost between the Oil Rig and Navarro disasters. Of the 2,500 that survive, 1,000 man the bases around the continent and 1,500 go to D.C. The events of FO3 are a disaster, but even if half die their losses are made up by discovery of the Marine Battalion (estimated at around 1,000). A decade later, and an Enclave of between 2,500 and 3,000 sends another 1,500 strong force to Orleans, a region of 225,000 on the high end. A small, highly proficient and superbly equipped force suddenly throws around the poorly equipped and prepared Orleans forces but isn't able to seal the deal, and by the time of FOO the region is in something of a 35-45-20 split between Enclave-Orleans-Other. The Enclave minority raises a substantial proxy army in the National Guard to match and hold off Orleans, sends some of its forces back to the bases to cycle and reset and refit, and by the time of the game the Enclave is the 1% of its own territory. If the Enclave rules around 80,000 people, and the Enclave Army stands around 700 (with another 300 Enclave serving as administrators and scientists and technicians), a Nation Guard proxy force of about 7,000 is relied upon to fight off Orleans while the Enclave's soft-power strategy develops and accrues support. Since the start of the war, the current 35-45-20 split is an improvement over an initial 15-75-10 split, as the Enclave has attracted more supporters and pushed initially pro-Orleans locals into ambivalence or outright neutrality.

Is it a reasonable broad number and sense of scale? Depends on how you feel. More extreme ratios have occured in history. Hernando Cortez and 500 conquistadores overthrew the Aztecs, an empire of nearly 5 million, and captured and the capital city of nearly 200,000. Yes, they had plenty of help in the form of allies and enemies of the Aztecs- but that has rough parallels in Orleans as well.

Of course, giving hard numbers in setting creation is generally a poor idea. Hard numbers frequently make little sense or contradict other hard numbers, and keeping any consistent sense of scale is extremely difficult. The NCR supposedly encompasses over a million people around the time of FNV, though famine may change that soon. Obviously my numbers wouldn't allow the Enclave and Orleans to be a massive superpower to dominate North America any time soon... but that's okay. That's what the Bayou is for: buffer space for a small, relatively weak state to grow and expand without established challengers. And the Bayou Cure is going to allow a massive population boom in the post-war, to help even out the numbers over time even more.


	26. Geography: Distant Wasteland Powers

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Geography: Previous Factions

* * *

With FOO taking place after the events of FNV, major factions are still around. Revealed primarily via the Blue Waters who have been involved with just about everyone via trading or raiding, and a token representative or two in the setting, how well the factions have done depends on the outcomes of FO3 and FNV. Many factions have their own interest in the rise of Orleans, even if their influence is largely insignificant.

* * *

NCR

The NCR still exists, but its attention is devoted to issues closer to home. A water shortage and famine are making its pain of over-expansion worse, as is the ongoing conflict with the Legion and a low level conflict with the Blue Waters who are interfering with its nascent naval efforts along the coast. Between ongoing Blue Water piracy and its history with the Enclave, small wonder the NCR favors Napoleon (even if they truly liked the First Consul's republic more).

The token NCR representative would be a civilian who is now stuck at the Orleans Opera House. A tourist who came to experience Orleans culture, due to the Blue Water blockade of the NCR coast preventing her return home she has claimed the role of NCR ambassador to Orleans. An upper-class snob even back in the NCR, they do about as well as one might expect. Napoleon keeps her around for a token of diplomatic recognition from abroad.

The NCR's status depending on FNV:

In an NCR victory, the NCR is big, rich, and fat. The water and wealth of Vegas are propping up the nation, but the expansion has stopped as President Wait-and-See Oliver focuses on the drought and consolidation. Political reorganization is in the air, and Vegas may at long last become a state rather than annexed territory. Skirmishes with the Legion still occur, though they have all been well east of the Colorado.

In Mr. House/Independent Vegas, the NCR is big, poor, and starving. Famine grips the land, and the NCR's expansion to its north and south is little more than desperate grabs for resources. The only reason it doesn't risk severe unrest is that the desperate (and rich) are heading east to Vegas, gambling it all on a better life, while buying food from the city-state. Independent Vegas tolerates the refugees more than Mr. House, who has used Securitrons on refugee riots more than once.

In a Legion victory, the NCR is small, poor, and possibly dying. The Legion's advance westward is a desperate war that is only making the draught worse. Though the desert is a logistical nightmare for the Legion, stalling their advance and letting the NCR Rangers wreck havoc, it's unclear how the NCR can turn it around. At best, the Legion will tire and have internal difficulties before then… though don't count on it if Caesar lives.

* * *

Caesar's Legion

Despite its doubters, the Legion still exists as a force to be feared. Its cracks have begun to show, however- between its Caesar of the West and the Legate leading its expansion to the East, the Legion has functionally, if not officially, divided in two. Though its eastern advance is slowed

by the radioactive tornadoes of Texas, even from this distance the Legion has an interest. The Blue Waters are pirates to be crucified, and the drug-addicted Orleans deserve to be enslaved like the Profligates they are, but it's the Enclave and their reliance of technology that are seen as the weakest. That's who the Legion would like to win, so that they will have the easiest conquest of all when they inevitably arrive.

The Legion representative would be Frumentari who are, of all things, helping to train Orleans locals for the National Guard. While making a show of formal relations against more hated profligate factions, the Frumintari are actually trying to strengthen the Enclave enough to put up a better fight to weaken the others (or, better, win), so that the inevitable Legion invasion will be easier. Plus, they're starting to establish spies and informants in preparation for their own expected conquest in the future. The Enclave knows this, but keeps them around simply because the Legion's training regimen and discipline is simply that effective. Still, the Frumintari are watched by Enclave Marines… who more than match them in Drill Sergeant Nasty and physical toughness.

The Legion's status depending on FNV:

If the Legion won Hoover Dam, their main focus is the war in California. While Caesar rules from the capital of Vegas, the Western Legion tears into the NCR while the Eastern Legion continues to gather more slaves, territory, and weapons to feed into the western fight. Despite the logistical issues, the war is clearly favoring the Legion. Even as far away as Orleans, people fear what will happen when the Legion reaches the Pacific and turns back East. (Caesar Lanius is much the same, except he takes no capital, and leads the war in the West himself.)

If Vegas went independent, the Legion is diverted. Its conquest of Vegas stopped, and its efforts invade the NCR from the north struggling, its expansion to the north and east are a matter of least resistance. While expanding faster than it would if it were focused west, the difficulties of keeping the Legion(s) united are stressing even Caesar's skill, and nearing schism if he is dead.

If the NCR won, the Legion is truly devastated. The Western Legion barely holds the west as a rear-guard, facing NCR raids and little success in the north. Only the East sees expansion, but these are not enough to sustain both fronts. The Legion faces internal discontent for Caesar, an attempted coup of Legate Lanius, and a successful coup if both are dead, though it remains well capable of doing much damage as it lurches east.

* * *

Vegas

The City of Vegas, Queen of the West, has rumor even as far as here. The place where fortunes are won and lost every night. Only the richest can afford to visit from Orleans, and few return with as much. Vegas is the bell weather of the west, but too far away to matter. Only by sailing the Colorado with the permission of the Legion can anyone reach it. In return, Vegas barely knows or cares Orleans exists- too occupied at home, only Mr. House has a cursory interest in the mouth of the Mississippi.

The Vegas representative would be a gambler who broke the bank at all three casionos, and so won a trip to Orleans as a way to get them out of Vegas. As lucky as they are oblivious, they are convinced Orleans is the luckiest vacation yet, and act as total tourists. Can be found at Tourist Trap, not getting why it is bad.

Depending on endings…

NCR-Vegas is heavily taxed and supporting the nation, but doing well. It is trying to become a full state and get representation and voting rights, rather than an annexed territory

Legion-Vegas is the official (or unofficial, for Lanius) capital of the Legion. It is, in a word, dystopia, and the spirit of Vegas and excess put on a cross. The Gamorrah prostitutes were enslaved, obviously, and the casino turned into a giant breeding pen. The Ultra-Lux has become the Temple of Mars, with the Priestesses running it as a shrine to Caesar. The Tops was turned into a barracks with the ground floor turned into a gymnasium and public baths for soldiers.

Independent-Vegas is a big, independent non-entity. It follows a very mutually non-aggressive path, in which it doesn't pick fights and no one else can pick a fight with it. Few people know, or care, about the war in Orleans. Those who knew tended to think fondly of the First Consul's efforts, but find Napoleon's imperialistic centralization just too oppressive.

Mr. House's Vegas is the most active, sponsoring efforts to bring more people out of the wasteland and to spend their caps in Vegas. Orleans, while well outside of his influence, is seen as both an opportunity and future competition. Regardless of who controls it, Orleans will dominate the Mississippi, and river trade in and out of the continent. It will be key in selling Mr. House's technology. At the same time, though, the Enclave is a potential technological rival, the Orleans Empire might one day have expansionist designs to the west, and the Blue Waters have a monopolistic attitude towards business competitors. As Mr. House watches the war from his first satellites above, the prospect of an economic challenger is… interesting.

* * *

D.C.

D.C. and the capital wasteland has seen a population boom since the activation of the Aqua Purifier, and the rise of clean water has turned it into one of the most significant communities on the coast. Wastelanders from across the continent have headed towards D.C. in pursuit of the legendary Aqua Purae, and salvage efforts have intensified. Since Captain Supermutant approached the supermutant army and Talon Company and convinced them to leave the Capital Wasteland, the region has never been safer. Blue Water traders are regular visitors to trade for salvage, technology, and water.

The above is all true regardless of whether the modified-FEV was put in the purifier or not.

Assuming the Lone Wanderer followed the good route, the capital wasteland listed above is all that and more. Communities have risen, the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel is the organizer of a loose confederation of settlements securing and distributing the water, and with the departure of the supermutants and arrival of new migrants D.C. is finally recovering and repairing into civilized societies. In exchange for the Aqua Purae, the Blue Waters have brought all manner of trade goods and salvaged technology from abroad, at last stabilizing the Brotherhood's resources. Challenges and shortages persist, thanks to all the wastelanders migrating to it, but the region is an optimistic success of post-Fallout recovery.

D.C. is remembered by the Enclave as a disastrous defeat, and is the basis of many of Hans' reforms. After the defeat of Eden's purist plot, Col Autumn's Reformists, who would rather rule than kill the wasteland, came to power to run the Orleans campaign.

If the Lone Wanderer did President Eden's bidding, however… D.C. is a safe and significant community. An Enclave community. Despite the extensive losses to Liberty Prime and the loss of the Mobile Crawler, destroyed during the Brotherhood's assault, the modified-FEV had already won the conflict. Once the affects were recognized, the Brotherhood of Steel had no choice but to abandon D.C. and organized as large an evacuation as they could, and the local settlements that could not flee with them soon died. By the time the Enclave moved back in, there was no one left to resist- every settlement, every raider, every deathclaw and yao gai and radscorpion and ghoul had left or perished. Wastelanders, hearing of the safety but not the cause, still come. The lucky escape, or are able to sell their services to the Enclave for the rebuilding effort, and then buy water brought by the Blue Waters from outside the region. For the Enclave, and Vault 101 survivors, the wasteland has never been safer.

D.C. is remembered by the enclave as a Pyrrhic Victory, a success despite the military disaster, another one of which would destroy the Enclave. Leaving the Purist elements to live and reconstruct in D.C., the Reformists took control of the Orleans campaign when the Purist's initial invasion soon stalled and faltered. Governor Hans is intent on not repeating the same mistakes that turned D.C. into such an expensive victory, hence his efforts of diplomacy and local integration. There will be no usage of modified FEV in Orleans so long as he has power to stop it.

* * *

The Pitt

The Pitt has survived, and grown. With the trog cure finally being developed and spread, the city is at last regaining population self-sufficiency and stabilization. An industrial powerhouse by the standards of the wasteland, and a primary exporter of new ammo, the Pitt's favor has weight. Its nature, however, depends on the Lone Wanderer's choice.

If the Lone Wanderer sided with Asher and the Slavers, the Pitt is a mixture of authoritarian and visionary. While slavery is no longer needed, the slavers are not so easy to get rid of- Asher's enforcers, too strong to remove, have become the top of a brutal caste system that exploits and oppresses the weak. Slavery no longer exists, technically, and theoretically anyone can join the military, but woe to the workers who remain the lower class. Asher's reforms may falter, but his vision is still clear: The Pitt is a regional hegemon after having subdued Ronto, steadily expanding west to dominate the Ohio River Valley, and clearing the Ohio River as it does. Though it may be decades, Asher has visions of trading the Pitt's steel across the continent and through Orleans, accelerating the rebirth of the wasteland.

If the Lone Wanderer sided with the slaves, the Pitt is free and ineffectual. That might be a harsh description, but not inaccurate. When the raiders were driven out, they soon returned to raiding the city, and supporting the neighboring Ronto. While the free city of the Pitt defends itself and attracts both allies and escaped slaves from elsewhere, it's expansion has been much hindered. It also lacks the drive, and the forced labor, to do the reconstruction work to restore infrastructure- dreams of connecting to the Mississippi River or trading outside the region remain that. Despite the lack of stature, though, the Pitt has finally become a livable, even preferable, place- labor conditions are kind if not efficient, and while the Union that governs the city is preoccupied with remaining in power it does so through seeking favor rather than force. Escaped slaves and desperate people from across the region still seek the relative safety and security of the Pitt.

* * *

The Institute

Secretive, reclusive, and technologically advanced. Despite years of effort, this is all the well-traveled Blue Water traders know about the northern-most known civilization on the Atlantic Coast. A meritocracy in which the only merit of value is science, the scientist-elite live in The Institute and lord over the lesser-minded locals. While trade with the Blue Waters is virtually non-existent, little more than the occasional request for specialized pre-war electronics, they occasionally trade exceptionally advanced cybernetics or robotics technology that makes the effort a profit.

* * *

Author Note:

There were no carry-over mechanics in the Fallout games, so unless a video game version of FOO had a basic world-state creator for the above choices put in somehow, this is the sort of thing that would be pushed by the Dungeon Master during the narrative. Foreign powers aren't important as much as interesting head-nods to the past games- but they do serve the narrative theme of a wasteland of rising powers. Orleans is one among several Wasteland powers, which helps cast both Napoleon's ambition and the Enclave/Blue Water concerns that they will become marginal groups if they don't secure their own power bases to resist the rising states and proto-states.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Planning this honestly felt like a game of Civilization. You have bunch of thematically unified civilizations, spread across the map, each in the early-game explore/expand phase of a classic 4X game. (The Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate model of Civilization games.) You could assign cultural traits (Napoleon as a cultural/aggressive civ leader), civilizational traits (Enclave xenophobia providing a strong penalty to integrating), unique buildings or units (Enclave vertibirds, Brotherhood bunkers, the Pittsburg stell press), and Wonders (the Shipyard, Project Purity, a Brahmin Baron exchange, etc.).

Throw in some other concepts from different Civ games and mods, like Hero Units from the Fall From Heaven mod (basically wonders in and of themselves, with exceptionally powerful stats and automatic experience growth: perfect for Liberty Prime or the various PC protagonists), Civ V's archeology system (to explore, exploit, and benefit from the ruins of the old war: say a choice between immediate weapons or long-term science gain), and a good system for dealing with Tribals as pseudo-barbarian units that can either be fought or recruited to bolster population.

I'm not going to be the one to do it, but just saying. You could make a decent Civ mod off of Fallout.


	27. Bestiary

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Bestiary

* * *

Creatures of Note: Orleans has the usual wasteland game, as well as its own local twists. This list will address Orleans-originals, and then touch on all previous animal/beast encounters. Not all critters would be random encounters, but they could be referenced or shown to particularly wide-travelled navigators.

* * *

Orleans-original Critters

* * *

Bayou Bobcat

In the Bayou where anything stuck at ground level is Deathjaw lunch, cats that can climb trees filled the other predator role. Descendants of the few surviving pre-war bobcats that interbred (with radioactive assistance) with surviving feline pets, the Bayou Bobcats are now Big Cats of varying sizes that will hunt anything short of a Deathjaw. And even those, with a group that's desperate enough.

Bobcats vary in size and temperament- some are as big as a bramin and just as vicious, others are more traditionally sized and have never been domesticated. They bounce between solitary hunters or join packs to protect and raise their young. They can all climb trees, though- the first warning you might have that a Bobcat is in the area is a pounce and knockdown from above. Most, however, will avoid doing so when a Deathjaw is in the area. Bobcats will hunt anything in the Bayou, but prefer smaller critters.

Bobcats prefer the drier bayou areas away from Deathjaws, but can be found in more domestic locals. Bobcats can, like Big Game cats of the past, be tamed (though not domesticated), and serve as guard animals and pets of the affluent. The most notable example is Napoleon's personal bobcat Catmeat, a gift from her father that has served as her lifetime companion and bodyguard, and can be found watching from the foot of Napoleon's throne.

In the city of Orleans, their status as elite pets have given Bobcats an elite reputation, especially in their willingness to hunt snakes. In the Bayou, however, tamers dismiss them as second-rate companions to a tamed Deathjaw: even a baby Deathjaw will warn off the casual Bobcat hunter, but a Bobcat is little more than a tasty distraction to a Deathjaw.

In terms of combat, Bobcats would be conventional fights with large, quick animals. While their ability to jump and cling to trees as an escape will foil melee-builds, and jumping from a tree a powerful attack, their real threat is their exceptional perception. With very, very high perception, Bobcats are hard to sneak up on and may in fact sneak up on a stealth build character.

* * *

Bog Beasts (aka, Swamp Goats)

The primary prey species in the Bayou, and one of the few that won't actively try to kill humans. Also one of the few animals mostly ignored by Deathjaws- too much shrubbery.

Bog Beasts are the Bayou equivalent to Bighorns in that they are evolved from goats. Only instead of mutating to grow big horns and shaggy coats, they have mutated into a symbiosis with the Bayou and are living planters. Instead of a coat of hair, Bayou plants literally grow on and out of the Bog Beast, which itself eats anything to help the plants. Bog soil, water, chemical spills, other plants… anything that, when consumed and digested, will nourish the plant growth. In exchange, the plants remove toxins and poisons from the host and assist in defending it. There may also be some energy provided from sharing photosynthesis.

In combat, a Bog Beast shakes itself, and sometimes twirls. That's about it- the vines and growths will lash out as basic whips, while the plant symbiosis will produce poisonous powders and short-range toxins. These usually aren't fatal, but they are uncomfortable (a mild debuff) and drive off most casual predators. Between the weak poisons, an excessive amount of shrubbery to claw through to the meat underneath, and not much meat underneath the marsh, and the Bog Beast's primary survival strategy is being too much of a bother to kill. A deathjaw or Bobcat will hunt one if hungry… but only if something else doesn't come up.

Bog Beasts can be domesticated, but the lack of safe grazing grounds has largely limited the rise of organized ranching. Instead, Bayou Hunters will usually retrieve one from their Bayou hunting grounds, and then bring it to a consumer. Bog Beasts are harvested for four main parts: their meat (not much), their milk (horrible, but usable for tea), their coat of vines (to make rope), and the occasional specialty plant that grows from them. As a walking shrubbery, a herd of Bog Beasts can literally be a walking garden for plant collectors.

* * *

Coons

The post-war evolution of a Racoon, perhaps mixed with a bit of squirrel. Small, quick, and jumping from tree to tree, Coons are quick-pawed thieves but very small threats. Fitting the 'small quick prey' role in the Bayou, Coons are the bottom of the food pyramid, hunted by anything that can shoot or catch them, especially Bobcats. They eat plants and seeds and are unlikely to attack anything more dangerous than a radroach. Shooting any limb will easily cripple the Coon, dropping it from trees and making it hard for it to run away.

Coons are a low threat, and will usually flee rather than fight. Their fur is exceptionally valuable, though, especially for Coon Caps. They can often be found near Bog Beasts.

* * *

Deathjaws

The post-war mutant gators, these residents of the bayou are to Deathclaws what a leviathan is to a dragon: equally deadly from another environment. Deathjaws have a mouth that can crack all but the toughest radscoprions, hide that can stand up to all but the heaviest weapon fire, and a poison resistance that makes Cazadores flee in fear. It's thankful that as they mature they become much slower than deathclaws… on land at least. In the water they can be as quick as anything, and are one of the few creatures that can kill you while swimming. A roused Deathjaw can also slam a boat hard enough to knock passengers off balance and into the water. Fiercely territorial, Deathjaws are the primary reason traditional predators of the Wasteland don't dominate the Bayou.

Thankfully limited to the Bayou, Deathjaws are less aggressive than Deathclaw and will generally only attack when hungry or angered or when it arbitrarily decides to. Unless you trespass their prized territory, a Deathjaw will often be content to float in the water and watch you go by. So long as you don't bump into it, or startle it, or try to hunt in its hunting grounds, a respectful and cautious traveler can avoid being killed. On the other hand, nowhere stationary is safe from a Deathjaw: Deathjaws tolerate no nests or hunting grounds other than their own, and so any competition is invaded and destroyed. The only predators that co-exist with Deathjaws are those that can fly or climb trees. In short, the closest competition are Bobcats and Humans.

Deathjaws have one other interesting facet: unlike Deathclaws, Deathjaws can be tamed at a young age, a fact the Orleans Empire has long since utilized. While it takes awhile for them to reach full maturity, a fully-tamed Deathjaw is a powerful mark of elite hunters and Bayou wanderers. The player can receive a young death jaw as a non-human companion.

* * *

Masters of the Deep

When the Great War occurred, the catastrophic extinctions included much of the sea. One of the new forms to rise in the new, radioactive waters of the Gulf Coast are the Masters of the Deep. Mutated squid… or perhaps octopi that combined with sharks, these monsters are the uncontested alpha-predator of the salt waters and anything that happens to fall in them. In a symbiotic relationship with the ever-present jellyfish that populate most waters and alert their fellows whenever anything enters the water, the Masters of the Deep know instantly when living flesh enters the deep.

The Masters of the Deep are the vicious-tentacle horror that makes swimming in the oceans a Very Bad Idea. Water is dangerous in FO:O: the radioactive waters of Orleans will kill you slowly, the Bayou Deathjaws and snakes can kill you quicker, but swimming in the ocean is near certain death. Players have approximately five to ten seconds of exposure to jellyfish (who live in the waters) before a tentacle of a Master of the Deep will find them and kill them instantly. Jellyfish on a dock in reach of the waters also count. Travel by boat is strongly encouraged.

The Masters of the Deep are not actually a combat enemy, but rather an unkillable terror that can only be avoided, not destroyed. Besides glimpses through the glass and tentacle outlines, the only parts a player would see in Orleans would be vicious, clawed tentacles. 'Ocean' would differ from 'river' water by having a much murkier appearance to help keep this appearance, and if a player is to be killed all they would see would be the approaching tentacles reaching to eviscerate them.

In the Caribbean-themed DLC campaign, the player would get to learn a bit more about the Masters. Aside from possibly seeing one washed ashore on a beach, the truth behind the Masters is that they are the result of a Chinese experiment with samples of stolen FEV. The Chinese aquatic counterparts to Cazadores, they were intended as terror weapons against the American coast.

* * *

Snakes

Snakes exist in the Bayou. Snakes exist in the rivers. They are scary: what more needs to be said? Skin it and you can make a quick buck for crafting. Poison would also be a useful addition to your weapons. You could even get more if you knocked one out rather than kill it… if you weren't killed in the process. Snakes could be one of the few threats beside Deathjaws and the Masters that could kill you while swimming.

Poisonous snakes would be the most logical to include: their danger coming from surprise attacks, debilitative and deadly venom, and a horrifyingly easy to confuse appearance in the Bayou, where that vine may in fact be the snake to kill you. If poisonous snakes could get a sneak attack bonus and high-critical rates, they would make an effective counter and exceptional enemy for players who take Perception as a dump stat. With a hide rate that calculates by the player's perception, snakes could be effectively invisible until they strike.

Snakes admittedly are an afterthought inclusion: they are common in the American South, and they would make sense as another threat of varying scale anywhere in the Orleans setting: in the Bayou, the Orleans hills, or the Cancer Aller riverbanks. They wouldn't necessarily be tough in a fight, just dangerous if taken by surprise. Bayou Bobcats, with their exceptional senses, are rarely surprised and will hunt the snakes instead.

Snakes would replace the FNV night stalkers as stealthy ambush threats. One of their merits would be as a relatively familiar non-mutated threat, similar to the Bobcat.

* * *

Old Critters

* * *

While some Wasteland beasts have their own niche in Orleans, some haven't been able to cut it. The Bayou serves has served as both a buffer and an exterminator for most outside threats, many animal species included. The primary predator of other predator species is the Deathjaw, which tolerates no competition in its hunting grounds.

Fortunately, the rise of coastal trade and return of exploration, with some Blue Water transactions to help, have allowed Orleans to create a Zoo of Wasteland creatures that were captured, dead or alive, and are now on display.

* * *

Bighorns and Brahmin: Not enough pastures

Large grazing critters do not exist naturally in the Gulf Coast for a lack of safe grazing areas. While Napoleon's stables in the City Park have a few for dairy, and a few are kept at the Zoo, only the most well to do can afford to keep even a single grazing animal in their personal property. Orleans lacks any equivalent to the Brahmin Barons of California, super-rich and politically organized livestock agriculture interests. As quality meat is a rarity in Orleans, the Blue Waters enjoy a trade monopoly of bringing in the creatures from abroad on some farm transport ships.

As most of the reclaimed western flatlands is dedicated to growing plants, not grazing animals, not even the Enclave is interested in these mutant grazing creatures.

* * *

Bugs (Radroaches, Bloatflies, Mantis, Ants): Weak predators, common prey

They exist across the bayou, too prolific to be completely devoured but never the dominant species. These provide common minor prey species, and weak random encounters in the Bayou. Bugs are the most common food for dogs in the city. With the devastation of the current warzones, bugs have colonized the rubble mountains in the city: while populated/residential areas are kept clear, it is not unknown for an ant colony to link parts of the city or for bugs to emerge from debris to attack unwary wanderers in less traveled paths. A suitable low-threat encounter in the Bayou, particularly in the early game.

* * *

Cazadores and Night Stalkers: Unsuited for the Bayou

These monsters of the west have not fared well in the Bayou. The Bayou's poisons and natural predators, especially poison-resistant deathjaws, have largely kept nests from taking hold. The only specimens to be found would be at the zoo, possibly as a preserved corpse.

* * *

Centaurs: Supermutant Pets

The mutant abominations remain pets for the Blue Water Supermutants, and only the Supermutants. Even the other Blue Waters are uncomfortable in their presence, possibly why Captain Supermutant keeps one as a companion animal at the Pirate Cove. Otherwise, they will only be found with a Supermutant pirate crew on a boat or patrol.

* * *

Coyotes and Wolves: Bayou Extinction

Undomesticated dog-like creatures have not survived in the Gulf Coast, where they are little more than food for more dangerous creatures. The only living specimens would be at the zoo.

* * *

Deathclaws: Dangerous but marginalized

Deathclaws are not the alpha-predator they once were. The dangers of the Bayou, and especially Deathjaws, have created a habitat so extreme that not even these hyper-aggressive beasts will stay near the swamps and waters. Instead, a pack of Deathclaws has broken through the Bayou and established a colony along the artificial hills of the Orleans coast, where it is pinned between the deadly ocean and the explosives of the Orleans military. They are considered a low priority but significant pest for future extermination by all factions in the area.

* * *

Dogs: Low-class food animals.

Mans best friend is not so highly regarded in Orleans. While cats retained a reputation of elite respect, dogs were not so lucky, or able to survive in the bayou on their own. Post war packs of feral dogs in the city rubble were a constant threat, and their primary redeeming trait was food for those who couldn't afford better. Dogs, companions of raiders and savages, cannibalistic eaters of other dogs and bugs and refuse in general, are seen as the lowest of the low, kept only for their low-status utility as guards and food for the most desperate. To eat dog food is to eat dog, just as low as what a dog consumes, and calling someone a dog eater or dog lover is a strong insult of their character and refinement. Only the least cultured of people would raise their child with a dog. The Enclave's relative tolerance of these mongrels, and pre-war romanticism of dog companions, is one of the notable cultural differences between the Enclave invaders and the locals.

There is no dog companion in Orleans. There might be a legendary dog to kill, supposedly related to Dogmeat or one of the previous legendary companions. Killing dogs in Orleans doesn't give you dog meat: the item is renamed Dog Food, emphasizing how low class it is.

* * *

Lurks (Lakelurks, Mirelurks): Bayou Monsters

The mutant fish and crab-people are natural fits for the Bayou and Marsh. Mirelurks, the crab-related ones, are the more costal residents of the Marsh and seaside. Mirelurks, the more man-like, have a definite presence in the Bayou as the common marsh-man monsters of the mutated wastewaters, and are most common on the Northern Bayou-end of Lake Pontchartrain. Neither are a match for Deathjaws, which can crack through the shells with ease, but as a favored prey of the Deathjaws the lurks have not triggered the Deathjaw's territorial instinct to utterly wipe out competitors.

* * *

Radscorpions, Barkscorpions: Unsuited for the Environment

A rare presence, not particularly suited for the Gulf Coast climate or the Bayou. There are some radscorpion nests along the coastline, especially in the artificial hills to the east of the city, but they are currently being destroyed by the deathclaw infestation. In the Bayou, all but the largest radscorpions are doomed to deathjaws. Otherwise, the Zoo keeps some scorpions in cages.

* * *

Tunnelers: Natural Barrier

Tunnelers are an increasing threat in the west, but pose none to the Gulf Coast. Captured and brought in to the Zoo, every Tunneler in the Bayou seems doomed to quickly die. Tunneler nests rapidly drown in the waters of the Bayou marshes, while the dry, absorbing skin of the Tunnelers that lets them thrive in the worst deserts seems to absorb the Bayou poisons even faster than anyone else. While tunnelers are emerging as an issue for the Mohave, they will likely never be a threat to the Bayou.

* * *

Vault 22 Spore Plants: Deadly Fauna of the Bayou

Spore Plants and their associated spore-infested zombies are a threat in the Bayou, albeit not the largest one. The mutated venus fly traps easily survive on the various bugs and occassional larger prey their spore hunters find, but are themselves prey to some of the same bugs. Bog beasts in particular are the natural predator of the spore plants, if 'predator' can be applied here. The Bog Beast defensive toxins and powders are capable of paralyzing spore hunters, while a spore plant that tries to bite a bog beast will get little more than a mouthful of vines for the trouble, and be paralyzed by the same powders. Bog beasts simply keep spore plants as one of the various parts of the deadly balance of nature.

* * *

Yao Gai: Extinct in the Bayou

Yao Gai have not survived in the Bayou of the Louisina region. While tribal allies of Orleans have tales of marsh-bears in the far north, a mix of yao-gai and bog beast, none exist down south or along the Mississippi River where the Deathjaws dominate. The only Yao Gai in Orleans are a few stuffed ones in an exhibit at the Zoo.

* * *

Author Note:

Having gotten through the geography piece and the heart of the setting, I thought it would be a good time to give thanks to the people who have reviewed and answer some of the questions and points raised in the reviews. Thanks to those few that have reviewed (particularly one especially loyal reader), and please contribute any thoughts or questions you might have.

Q: Are there any cannibal or tribal factions?

A: This was amusingly put out before the importance of voodoo tribals was posted. So yes. Cannibals are very rare in Orleans and the Bayou: between dog food and the Bayou, there's typically food to eat, if not always enough or good nutrition. There is no cannibal faction in Orleans, not like the White Glove Society, but there is a cannibal tribe to be revealed in a DLC campaign.

Point: I am a bit on the fence when it comes to the inclusion of the Enclave and the Followers as factions all the way in Louisiana. The Enclave in Fallout 3 were sorta pushing it lore-wise, but I find the idea of the Followers managing to make it all the way to New Orleans being a bit iffy.

A: Not quite a question, but it's a good point. I agree with it: if I were actually designing a game, I'd be skeptical in recycling these factions as well, especially the Enclave. The Enclave was critical to the story and to my personal project of how I feel an Enclave-ish faction could/should have been in the setting, rather than the complete monster-antagonists they were, and FOO was as much getting 'how a joinable Enclave in FO3 could have worked' off my mind as my sincere interest in using such a faction as a faction to rebuild the post-Apocalypse. The Followers are a bit less defensible- but I felt that some needed to be around to convincingly cast PEEWE as a splinter group from it, and the Followers sincere generosity makes a better foil to the Enclave's selfserving rationals for helping the Wastelanders (which is to help them rule). The Followers were a pretty late addition, and should be pretty limited. A major force they are not, if that helps.

Q: What is my opinion on the Wasteland Walkers (the previous protagonists)?

A: Considering I don't know how much gameplay and lore segregation exists in the Fallout universe, I'm hesitant to claim them as uniquely super-powered mutants as depicted in commandocucumber's 'Children of the Atom' series. (Which, if you haven't read and reviewed, you should. Great PC characterization abounds in a gripping storyline.) While the previous heroes have more legend about them, the Navigator (as a rising legend) will probably be viewed more as a hyper-competent person who was in the right time and the right place for the right faction in order to be decisive. I do think that is how the more rational-minded in-universe viewpoints, the rationalists who dismiss tribal superstition, might try to rationalize them. The history books would probably claim that these individuals were simply exceptional people who were key to helping already existing forces at work. That works well enough for me- and as far as I'm concerned, the previous protagonists are still focused on their own regions or have otherwise disappeared below public notice. I would leave crossovers to the fanfic writers.

Q: Have you thought about conceptualizing any more potential games? A Fallout game set in London, Hawaii, or Chicago maybe?

A: Yes, yes, and no, actually. When I was brainstorming, I briefly went through a number of different ideas with a muse.

London was a strong possibility, and even had a concept outline as being a very feudal region in which kingdoms had popped up across the City and were dividing it. The unifying force of the region were the British subways, with the various kingdoms nominally-but-not-really subordinate to the descendants of the British monarchy and government that retreated into the tunnels as shelters, complete with a lame dirty joke about being greeted with 'Welcome to Her Majesty's Royal Tubes, enjoy your stay.' The story would have been about uniting the city in preparation for an invasion by a vaguely Scandinavian-Germanish invasion from the continent, in a parallel to the anglo-saxon invasions. Ultimately it didn't move past that because, past poking at various periods of British culture and history for area themes, I don't know enough to plan on a large scale.

Hawaii was considered, but dismissed as too insular and distant to the mainland. As one of the closest, smallest, and easiest to hit targets from China in the Great War, I kept thinking of it in terms of being an irradiated hellhole of ghouls and cannibal tribes. It seemed a bit small- and ultimately those concepts were cycled across some upcoming DLC. As of now, Hawaii is mainly an irradiated hellhole of feral ghouls- and a possible future target for the Blue Waters and/or Enclave. The Blue Waters will want to colonize Hawaii as a naval bastion for their world trade ambitions, and win or lose the Enclave could get some future use out of an isolated island of potential weapon candidates.

Instead of Chicago, I did sketch out a Canadian idea that would have hit a bit of the US border. It was going to have an environmental theme of nuclear winter wonderland, have Canadian forests and elk-hunting tribals and a legendary yao-guy the size of a large house who would be known as 'the bear who devours the moon' or something like that. There were some Vault ideas (an American Vault overrun by Canadian survivors, fighting a Vault of Canadians put in a vault in which the experiment was indoctrinating American nationalism), lakes thawed and kept warm by radioactive materials, and some vague ideas for a survival mechanic based around needing heat and warmth. Ultimately there just wasn't enough, no larger plot made sense, and I couldn't decide on a location or overarching plot or even major factions for a serious conflict.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Way too much thought into an ecosystem. Dog foot, cat people (but not the furry kind), and way too much fun and thought into making a fictional ecosystem in which everything has something else to eat. Or, as one person told me, 'trying to make a better radscorpion.'

Food pyramids were a serious consideration. I wanted a Bayou which made sense in that there would be something for everything to live off of, and enough for Orleans to live off as well. Various animal encounters and ideas, even if they probably wouldn't work too well if put into a game. Still, the Deathjaw is definitely an iconic part of Orleans in my mind- even more so than the Bobcats, were actually a product of an process that started with a conclusion of dogs as a low-class food source.

The Bayou is an ecosystem to me, and even if parts of it had to go (starting with snakes) I like it. The Deathjaws and Bog Beasts especially.


	28. Factional Forces: Enclave

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional Forces: Enclave

* * *

Just a little breakdown of the various factions and their forces, as well as interesting/relevant points of note. Giving a sense of their organization, their types of mooks, their specialties, and any relevant politics of note.

Most enemies have a stronghold where they are exceptionally present. It could be their regional HQ, or just a beast nest. This is not their exclusive area, but at least one where they have an exceptional presence.

* * *

Enclave

Enclave forces are primarily broken across their political divide, between the 'pure' Enclave Army and the locally recruited National Guard created by Governor Hans. While Governor Hans is the single most powerful person in the Enclave in Orleans, and in charge of his own Enclave command and the local forces, he does not have operational control over the standard Enclave forces. There's a variety of political tensions between the various forces, reflecting the Enclave's internal power struggle of politics and priorities.

Enclave forces use energy weapons, and Enclave regulars are famous for their training and advanced power armor. Enclave forces focus on ranged combat and technological superiority, going for quality over quantity. When on the defensive, they like to set up barricades and turrets with clear sectors of fire.

The Enclave position on chems is that they are a liability for addiction and extortion, and that chem purchases benefit Orleans-affiliated traders. Chem use does occur, but is generally limited and officially discouraged.

The Enclave political and administrative capital is Downtown Orleans, with Governor Hans. The Enclave military leadership is located in Baton Rouge, though Louisiana Regional Airport serves as the main military base for supporting the army, with power armor technicians and equipment.

* * *

Eyebots (Regular and Duraframe)

Military

-Low tier drones and scouts. Duraframes are mod-low tier and accompany Enclave Army patrols.

-Regular Eyebots are weak and armed with basic lasers. They either support as sentries or escorts in safer Enclave territory, or as disposable scouting drones in the Bayou.

-Duraframe eyebots are better armored, and have a modified laser that decreases enemy perception and accuracy. While weak, when it hits as a head shot the player will suffer sun glare effect. Duraframes serve as sensor support for Enclave Army patrols, making it harder to ambush them.

-Eyebots serve as the Enclave replacement for guard dogs, and are regular guards for Enclave buildings of note. Like all other guard creatures, they can see through disguises if close enough.

-Regular encounters in the Bayou, either escorting Enclave patrols or as lone scouts.

Political

-The Eyebot project was restarted thanks to the success of ED-E and the legendary Courier. Whether ED-E made it to Navero or not, its presence and abilities in the Mohave reached the Enclave.

-On top of their surveillance capabilities, Eyebots have strong radios. This makes them popular with patrols as a means of staying in radio contact with base. Losing an Eyebot sparks concern for everyone involved. Overly cautious Enclave leaders won't even go out or remain on patrols in the Bayou without one, making Eyebots a favored Orleans target for sabotage.

-Frequently given as gifts to neutral villages the Enclave seeks favor with, providing helpful defense and radio contact in exchange for surveillance.

-All significant Enclave settlements have an eyebot, usually with the local leadership.

* * *

Enclave Scientists

Military

-Lowest tier above civilians

-Plasma pistols and often wear radiation gear.

-Only found in Enclave-secured areas.

-Always guarded by soldiers

Political

-All Enclave Scientists are 'pure' Enclave and Citizens. Non-Enclave scientists working for the Enclave are considered 'assistants', no matter how much they know, and will never rise above the Enclave Scientist.

-Technical/science elites of the wasteland. Enclave science is second to none.

-Politics vary, but many lean towards purists.

-Not all Enclave Scientists are mad scientists, but all the cool mad scientists are Enclave scientists.

* * *

Orleans Police

Military

-Lowest tier Enclave mooks.

-Laser pistols, shock batons, occasionally revolvers.

-Found mostly in Enclave-held population areas, and patrolling Enclave-held Orleans.

-Work in groups of themselves, occasionally supported by Enclave regular.

-A paramilitary security, not combat, force. Capable of beating civilians, but not organized military forces.

-More than NCR MPs, less than Fiend-raiders.

Political

-Created by Governor Hans for law enforcement, civilian pacification. Locally recruited.

-Reputation for corruption, abuse. Quality highly varies.

-Grown out of Hans' control: Enclave military supports Orleans Police against Hans.

-The native-born leader of Orleans Police is regarded as brutish but effective. Supported by Enclave Purists and a local-born purish himself, he is beyond Governor Hans ability to replace or reign in.

* * *

Orleans National Guard

Military

-Low/medium-tier combat mooks. By far the most common Enclave force.

-Laser rifles, non-power armor body armors, occasionally pre-war US combat rifles.

-By the end-game, 'elite' may wear non-powered power armor scrounged from losses.

-Most common Enclave military force to be found on patrols, low/mid-importance garrisons.

-Work on their own, occasionally supported by Enclave Marines

-A low-intensity combat/occupation force. Capable of fighting off Raiders, struggles with Orleans mooks.

Political

-National Guard reports to Governor Hans and the 'civilian' government, not the Enclave military.

-Quality varies, but generally a more positive reputation with locals than the Enclave regulars. Less inclined to harshly crack down on the locals, but at the same time this leads to more corruption and personal favors to old friends.

-Often seen and derided as Governor Hans own private force, both as his enforcers and pet project to prove utility of locals.

-Motivations vary and can frequently include mundane employment, but optimistic sentiments exist and range from buying the Enclave's propaganda-patriotism, hopes for a return of technology, and hopes of a return of democracy to Orleans that was lost with Napoleon.

-Pre-game loss of control of Orleans Police saw Hans pick the leaders of the ONG that had at least two of three traits: ability, morality, or loyalty to Hans. This was to avoid losing control, and keep a more publicly-accepted force.

-The leader of the ONG is personally loyal to Governor Hans.

* * *

National Guard Heavy Trooper

Military

-High-tier mooks. Replace some of the medium-tier regular National Guard in the finale if conditions are met.

-Heavy trooper armor is Brotherhood T-51b armor hastily stripped of servo-motors and repainted.

-Wield high-end laser weapons: tril-lasers, laser rcws, and short-medium range focus.

-Mixed in with Enclave Marines.

Political

-Only appears in combat in the finale itself. Otherwise a few suits of armor can be found in the Enclave's power armor lab.

-Supports the player if the player is siding with the Enclave, Hans is alive, and destroyed the Brotherhood violently in a way allowing salvage. If conditions aren't met, regular National Guard instead. If opposing the Enclave, a few will be present regardless.

-A last-minute move by Hans to make use of captured Brotherhood power armor before the final final battle. Technically violates Enclave policy towards arming the Guard, but it comes to late to be a factor.

-Given to National Guards attached the Enclave Marines, who already hand-pick their Guard supplement. Guards who work with the Marines are already considered Marines in spirit, and are exceptionally loyal, motivated, and able.

* * *

Enclave Officers

Military

-Lower-tier on own, lower-mid in groups.

-Plasma pistols, grenades, but low-armor.

-Lead Regular, Guard, and Police forces.

-In combat, boost ability of allied forces.

Political

-The Enclave military leadership structure. Not all units have an officer, but most buildings or outposts will.

-All Enclave Officers are 'pure' Enclave citizens.

-Highly educated, historically-literate, and frequently look down on local knowledge.

-Represent the political divide within the Enclave. A large split on whether the Orleans campaign and the locals are worth it.

-Officers who support Hans tend to work with Orleans Guard. Generally more open minded, or at least less disdainful and willing to accept results.

-Officers who don't try to stay with the Regulars, and resent having to command locals. More likely to be fragged by their subordinates.

* * *

Enclave Regulars

Military

-Medium/high-tier combat mooks

-Laser and Plasma weapons, Enclave Power Armor, occasional plasma mines or grenades

-Upper-tier forces that go on patrols, guard important garrisons

-Support lower forces, or work on their own.

-Dedicated combat forces. Superior to most Orleans forces, matched by Brotherhood of Steel Knights.

Political

-Under the control of the Enclave military chain of command, not Governor Hans.

-Attitudes towards war vary, but prevalent pessimistic views that the war is not worth the costs.

-Dissatisfaction with Hans is not a majority view, but not uncommon. Many dislike the stalemate, but recognize that the early years were worse.

-In general, disdain for the locals.

-The 'darker' side of the Purists is more prevalent.

* * *

Enclave Veterans

Military

-Plasma Weapons exclusively, advanced Enclave Power Armor, Plasma Grenades or Mines

-Elite-tier forces.

-Only support Regulars, elite forces.

-Dedicated combat forces. Marginally superior to Brotherhood of Steel Paladins.

Political

-Enclave veteran forces brought in as reinforcements for the final push.

-Come from elsewhere across North America, from other Enclave bases.

-Includes two types: D.C. Veterans, and Veteran Purists.

-Purist Veterans are from other Enclave facilities, and tend towards Purist thoughts. Highly critical of Governor Hans and Locals, and tend to view their arrival as imminent victory. Not used to stalemate or defeats.

-D.C. Veterans, learning from their defeat, are more approving/accepting of Governor Hans's efforts to take advantage of the locals. However, many are also more inclined to more abusive tactics and coercion of locals.

* * *

Enclave Marines

Military

-Marine Power Armor is slightly weaker than basic Enclave Power Armor, but has a lower weight and encumbrance. It is just as strong but lighter than Brotherhood Power Armor.

-Has higher radiation resistance for swimming through radioactive waters. Possible speed boost for swimming vis-à-vis other power armors as well. Wearing the Marine armor set will also give the water breather effect.

-Enclave Marines are the only Enclave force to not use energy weapons. Marines carry top-tier ballistic weapons, explosives, and melee. This reflects both the relative technological gap, and reliability concerns in water.

-High Tier. Generally on par with Brotherhood of Steel due to not using energy weapons, but exceptionally effective against Orleans and pirates thanks to high-DPS weapons.

-Work in their own groups, sometimes support by the Marine National Guard. Generally avoid mixing with Enclave Regulars, Police.  
-Effectively Hans' Special Operations Forces. They do the most raiding and operations behind enemy lines, often infiltrating by river.

Political

-Captain Hans' personal command. The only Enclave military forces he has direct authority over.

-Black Sheep of the official Enclave military, unknown to most Enclave personnel until the war. A 'recent' reveal, with lots of doubt and questions about their history.

-Marked by a devoted American nationalism, Marine spirit, and a lack of traditional Enclave purism. Take the Marine Core spirit to cultish levels.  
-Personally loyal to Governor Hans, to the point of will kill other Enclave figures if ordered to. Will refuse to answer to other Enclave officers who ask about their Bunker or who oppose Governor Hans.

-Tied to Governor Hans' 'illegitimacy.' Their dark secret is that their bunker was compromised, leading to genetic impurity and degenerating into a Brotherhood-esque tribal society. Corps and Country is more than their culture, it's a religion. Literal, if subtle, worship of Uncle Sam, and they view Hans as a prophet and possible reincarnation.

-Discovering the secret would be tied to the Enclave Coup quest. Revealing it would see Governor Hans overthrown and executed.

-Most notable member is Bella, though she keeps it a secret.

-Ending state separate from the Enclave, depending on Hans' state. If Hans is dead, they'll be increasingly add odds with the Enclave purists. If Hans is alive, they'll stick with him.

* * *

Enclave Heavies

Military

-Heaviest Power Armor and Weapons: Inferno Armor, Gatling Weapons, cutting-edge plasma, the best the Enclave has.

-Elite-tier. Only show up towards the end-game.

-Work with Enclave Regulars, Veterans, or on their own.

-Strongest mooks in the game.

Political

-Pure Enclave special forces.

-Under the direct control of the Enclave Military.

-Have been called in from across North America and the Enclave's support bases.

* * *

Author Note:

The basic bestiary for non-beasts. It looks complicated, but this is really pretty close to what FNV had with the NCR and its various unit types. The Enclave's military has the most weight on the political divisions, but is what we would consider the most professional army of the war.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Time to talk about power armor in the Enclave.

First off, the Navigator can get power armor training from three main sources. Doing the Brotherhood of Steel quest chain to gain their trust and access to their base is one. Power armor training is an explicit reward in one of the DLC. And the Enclave is another source, requiring access to the Airport and some convincing of the techies inside. Both of which can be done by giving suits of power armor... or, with a good skill check, wearing a power armor costume to get inside and some mad speech skill.

In the design process, there was some serious debate about whether the National Guard should get any power armor, or even stripped/salvaged power armor, towards the end-game. A National Guard equivalent to the NCR's heavy troopers who use stripped power armor, in this case using armor salvaged from the Brotherhood of Steel after you beat them for the Enclave. To this date I'm torn about it- I won't include it as a standard encounter, but there's a possible roleplaying element to it- a sort of reward if you neutralize the Brotherhood in a more fatal way that lets you steal their tech (whether by violence or poisoning/irradiating their vault, rather than just self-destruction or sealing it shut).

Enclave standard policy for power armor is that it is property of the state, no ifs ands or buts. The Enclave has an exceptionally generous bounty/reward system for wastelanders who turn in power armor, even broken armor: a complete, working suit of power armor can get a local exempted from Enclave taxes for life. Recovered power armors, even 'old' models, are recycled and repaired to supplement and maintain the Enclave's own power armor. The Regulars have never been so desperate as to need to wear an old model outright, but since they use many shared parts the damage to one can be repaired with the other.

People who don't turn in power armor... well, if they aren't the Brotherhood of Steel, they might be arrested or killed for it if the Enclave thought it could get away with it. The Navigator is safe enough, but a potential encounter in Enclave if wearing armor (or non-powered armor) would be a confrontation with an IRS squad: you could give over your armor for a reward, bribe them to look the other way (for a few in-game months), fight them off, or (if positive reputation and/or sided with them at Act 1) appeal for an exemption to get a permit. If the encounter was made if the player had power armor in their inventory, it could even serve as a lead-in to the Enclave route of getting power armor training.

But this is mostly because the Navigator is a special snowflake- the Enclave otherwise doesn't tolerate non-Enclave personnel in power armor, and you need the special permit to even handle the stuff as a merchant. Enclave policy from the military, a fight not even Hans could win if he tried (which he won't), is that the National Guard will not be trained in power armor in case of defectors. Part of this is honest security concerns, and part of it is because if Hans were able to train personally loyal Guards how to use power armor, he would and so expand his power base vis-a-vis the military. The question of non-powered powered armor is ambiguous, but a de fato no: not enough spare sets to arm a significant force, and what is salvaged is always in short supply to maintain the Enclave armors. The Enclave keeps a few proof-of-concept models in their power armor shop, but that's it.

The difference comes with the fall of the Brotherhood of Steel. When it comes to handling the Brotherhood, there are always at least two ways to end them: violently in a way that allows salvage, or sneakily in a way that doesn't. The 'sneaky' way would usually be a Bunker override and self-destruct: it's the non-violent way, can is easy to do once you gain the Brotherhood's trust by doing their quests. The salvage way... well, guns blazing is one way, but another 'sneaky' way would be to exploit the trust to poison the life support somehow. Poison the water, flood with vault with reactor radiation, whatever.

Point is, the Brotherhood is crippled, and if the Enclave can take its stuff then Hans has a small army of extra power armor to make use of. As the Bunker can only be destroyed right before the finale (the option won't be present before the mission), Hans's supporters and Marines make their move at the eleventh hour. If they win the battle, they can get away with it because it was stripped power armor, and if they lose the battle it won't matter. And, since there's a very limited amount of time to do this, the Enclave focuses on stripping the best suits of armor first: hence the T-51b Heavy Armor.

Or so goes the in-story justification. On the meta-level the inclusion of an Enclave Heavy Trooper was a very last-minute addition, more as a RPG Consequence than anything else. If you're fighting the Enclave, they're just a last, ineffectual speed bump. If you fight the Enclave, the conditionals make them the difference between a meatshield force and having an easy walkthrough as your accompanying grunts steamroll the Orleans grunts.

I also felt the Enclave Heavy Trooper should be the T-51b armor to reflect the Enclave's higher-technology bias: even when arming their grunts, they'll still focus on quality over quantity. But that was as much for the variety between all the faction's Heavy Troopers.


	29. Factional Forces: Orleans

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional Forces: Orleans

* * *

Just a little breakdown of the various factions and their forces, as well as interesting/relevant points of note. Giving a sense of their organization, their types of mooks, their specialties, and any relevant politics of note.

Most enemies have a stronghold where they are exceptionally present. It could be their regional HQ, or just a beast nest. This is not their exclusive area, but at least one where they have an exceptional presence.

* * *

Orleans Empire

Orleans has fewer internal divisions in their ranks. While Napoleon isn't uniformly popular, she has no rivals either. Even the people who don't like Napoleon tend towards a sense of Orleans nationalism, a common connection and pride in the city and First Consul that binds them. Most soldiers from the city identify from their street or neighborhood.

Orleans strategy is part insurgency, part attrition. It has a close-medium range focus, specializing in grenades and shotguns for large bursts of damage. Orleans has the numbers to spend, and only one person needs to get in grenade range to do a lot of damage. Exceptions to the norm are usually justified by Orleans many tribal allies/territories in the Bayou, along the Mississippi. Orleans snipers or melees would be tribals, for example.

The political and military power in Orleans rests with Napoleon in her Palace. The military administration is centered at the Campus.

* * *

Indentured Servants

Military

-Low-grade melee weapons: shovels, iron bars, wrenches, etc. Occasionally pistols.

-No armor of note.

-Lowest of the low. Only capable of taking on critters.

-Found at Orleans military outposts, civilian centers, everywhere. Sometimes with patrols as a 'mule.'  
Political

-Orleans has slavery, primarily for labor, though slavery in Orleans is time-limited and in good conditions. Slaves in the military serve both in the labor force and as soldiers, though the later is only by volunteering.

-Indentured Servants are bought, and have to serve a certain years to work their contracts. Afterwards, they are free, given a small sum, and automatic citizens.

-Orleans slavery is so much better than conditions elsewhere that many slaves embrace Orleans.

-Being a slave in Orleans is not a social stigma. Being a former slave and now a citizen is a matter of pride.

* * *

Militia

Military

-Squirrel Rifles, family shotguns, etc. Weak, cheap weapons. Rare chems.

-A militia-men clothes, which provide little armor but give skill buffs.

-Lowest tier combat forces. Weaker than many raiders.

-Semi-common Orleans Grunts. Usually led by a Grenadier, or mixed with regulars.

-Cannon-fodder role.

-Frequently retreat after the first persons on on their side is killed.

Political

-Slave-soldiers or part-time locals. Can be impromptu fighters.

-Irregulars: a militia member might pose as a regular civilian when Enclave patrols come, hiding the uniform and weapon, and then pick up arms later.

-Not under formal Orleans military control.

-Contemporary analogy would be Afghan insurgents who aren't committed to the insurgency.

* * *

Regulars

Military

-Shot guns, rifles, melee weapons. Uncommon chems.

-Uniform leathers. Lighter armor, but a uniform appearance. Orleans uniform resembles Napoleonic-era.

-Low tier combat forces.

-Common Orleans grunts. Usually mixed with militia, Grenadiers, or bolstered with Veterans.

-Focus on numbers and force. Quick to go down to rapid-fire weapons, but capable of giving notable damage up close.

-A match for raiders. On par with Enclave National Guard at close range, but at a disadvantage at long range.

Political

-Draftees and volunteers, full time soldiers for the duration of their rotation.

-Recruited by neighborhoods. Most groups you can talk to will identify themselves by where they come from.

-Generally nationalistic, patriotic, and proud. The 'common people' of Orleans.

* * *

Grenadiers

Military

-Grenades. Other types of grenades. Grenade launchers for grenades at range. Flame throwers. Mines. The rare missile launcher at higher levels.

-Explosive-resistant armor, starting from reinforced leathers and going to bomb-squad gear.

-Medium-tier to higher specialist, with heavy explosive/fire focus. Tier goes up with upgrades to grenade types and armor into end-game.

-Uncommon forces. Often either leading militia as the heavy-hitter/mine emplacer, or imbedded with Regulars and higher.

-Better than raiders, and capable of doing major damage to anyone depending on grenade type and blast. Exceptional endurance.

-The heavy-hitters of Orleans. A Grenadier is always a priority target for Enclave forces, as if they get close their grenades and flamers can do major damage regardless of armor. Grenadiers can throw all types of grenades, including frag, EMP, incendiary, poison, throwing weapons, and flash-bangs.

Political

-Grenadiers are all volunteers, and get exceptional pay, privileges, and prestige to go along with the shorter life expectancy.

-Grenadiers are a backbone of the Orleans forces, giving them a chance to take on much stronger threats. They get exceptional respect and exceptional pay for the exceptional dangers.

-Grenadiers are also a part of the insurgency-aspect of the Orleans military, creating and emplacing mines and IEDs.

-Grenadiers are never taken prisoner by the Enclave. Captured Grenadiers face summary execution.

-Grenadiers have an espirte de corps matched only by (and respected by) Enclave Marines.

-The Grenadiers have a public base in the French Quarter, and guard the bridges across the river that divides the city.

* * *

Orleans Heavy Grenadier

Military

-Elite-tier specialists. An Orleans Heavy Trooper.

-Heavy trooper armor is Brotherhood T-45d stripped of servo-motors and repainted.

-Wield high-end explosive weapons, including missile launchers and grenades- so many grenades, including pulse grenades.

-Extremely uncommon force. Never surpass one per encounter.

Political

-The super-elite of the grenadiers. Each is an accomplished veteran even before getting the armor.

-All are made honorary nobility upon receiving their armor.

-Supports the player if siding with Orleans into the finale. A heavy Grenadier with a fatman nuke launcher clears the path of Enclave in a semi-scripted advance sequence.

* * *

Patriot Officers

Military

-Sabers, a bugle, revolvers, light armor.

-The 'leadership' figure for Orleans, the equivalent to the Enclave Officer.

-Provides buffs to the local troops.

-Leads the charge with gallantry and bravery.

Political

-A mix between motivating leader and disciplinarian. The less fanatical/murderous version of a Warhammer 40k Commissar.

-Officers are responsible for making sure their subordinates are properly patriotic and fervent, filled with e'lan. Tactical competence is secondary.

-The closest thing Napoleon has to a secret police. Except instead of a state of terror, it's more like a state of insufficient nationalism.

-Patriot Officers are picked for fervent loyalty to Napoleon and Orleans, not ability.

-Officers are supposed to show gallantry and spirit worthy of Napoleon. A fair undercurrent of Southern pride and bluster.

-Grunt views of their officer vary by officer: some are respected, others derided.

* * *

Veterans

Military

-Shot guns, assault rifles, knives, and frequent chems. Rare grenade.

-Combat armor.

-Mid/high-tier mooks.

-Initially found supporting Militia or Regulars. Compose the core of the end-game army.

-Superior to Enclave National Guard troops, still inferior to Enclave Regulars. By the end-game, they compose most Orleans forces.

Political

-Once a Regular has proven themselves in battle, only then do they get issued the more powerful, more expensive armors and weapons of the veterans.

-Veterans are all exposed to combat, and have seen many friends die. Chem use is endemic, not just for battle purposes but for dealing with war stress.

-Veterans tend to be a bit more jaded and cynical than the newer recruits.

* * *

Royal Guard

Military

-The Orleans Heavy Trooper.

-Heavy trooper armor is Brotherhood T-45d stripped of servo-motors and repainted.

-Use all guns and grenades.

-Elite-tier mooks.

-Found defending Napoleon, supporting Veteran units, or their own units.

-On par with Enclave Veterans.

Political

-Best of the Best. Veterans who keep surviving and have only seen their dedication grow.

-All recipients of stripped power armor are made honorary nobility by Napoleon.

-The only force in the Orleans military that the Enclave Army considers a 'serious' threat, not least because of the re-purposed power armor the Royal Guard equips.

-The Royal Guard is not only Napoleon's personal protection force, but her elite troops.

-All members of the Royal Guard are fanatically loyal to Napoleon personally.

-The stockpiling of stripped power armor is a friction point between the Brotherhood and Napoleon. While the First Consul freely gave all recovered power armor to the Brotherhood, Napoleon collected armor from fallen Brothers during the Enclave-Brotherhood phase of the war, and claimed a significant stockpile that had been seized by the Enclave but reclaimed during an Orleans victory.

-In order to compensate for the friction and keep good ties, other types of power armor (including Enclave) are given to the Brotherhood.

* * *

Tribal Allies

Along with it's 'professional' army, Orleans has a significant number of tribal allies. These allies operate on their own in the Bayou, or are mixed in with Orleans forces fighting in disputed territories.

* * *

Ghoul Town Avengers

Military

-Assault Rifles, SMGs, mines

-Cameo/swamp suits: whatever blends into the bayou

-Mid-tier, with higher ranged firepower than most Orleans forces

-Operate on their own in the bayou, occasionally supported by other tribal allies

-Insurgents in the Bayou: ambush Enclave patrols, etc.

-Near-par with Enclave National Guard: weaker armor, but stronger mid-range firepower

Political

-Ghouls are mixed in across all the other Orleans forces, but Ghost Town Avengers are their own distinct forces

-Escapees/exiles from Ghoul Town, they have a special hatred of the Enclave and vice-versa.

-Mostly operate in the Bayou as bushwackers. Few are taken alive as prisoners by the Enclave.

-Ghouls are remarkably pro-Napoleon. Even in occupied Ghoul Town, the fact that Napoleon fought and lost in the battle for the town rather than retreat and use the forces in the city has earned her admiration and respect despite the bitter defeat.

* * *

Swamp Foxes

Military

-Sniper Rifles, poison traps, stealth boys when on their own.

-Swamp-suits for extra stealth in Bayou.

-Mid-upper tier: powerful ranged weapons mixed with aggravating tactics

-Strongest long-range Orleans force

-Often work in pairs, work alone, or support other Olreans units as ranged support

-Practice hit-and-run tactics. A lone Swamp Fox will fire some shots, use a stealth boy, then flee, leading pursuers to traps.

-A Swamp Fox team will alternate fire from two different directions, but won't try to flee until one is killed.

-Suicide option: if a Swamp Fox is near death, it may commit suicide rather than risk capture.

Political

-From an Olreans-allied tribe deep in the Bayou, up the Mississippi. The Tribe was started by pre-war survivalists and hunters, and took in members of the Survivalist Vault when the Vault was opened.

-Famous for the accuracy, hunting, and stealth skills

-Hated by Enclave and Blue Water troops alike. Like all snipers, few are taken prisoner.

-While sprinkled across Orleans forces, mostly concentrated in the Bayou (against Enclave) or along the coast (against Pirates/Enclave Marines).

* * *

Wompas

Military

-Clubs, Melee Weapons, thrown weapons (tomahawks, spears, etc.). Med-X and melee-related chems.

-Scrap Metal Armor, Metal Armor.

-Lower/mid tier: powerful melee and stronger endurance than most Orleans, but no range. Their role is to soak up damage while the entire Orleans charge gets within Grenade range.

-Semi-common add-in to Orleans forces. Found mostly with regulars with a Grenadier or Patriot Officer.

-Bum-rushers, mostly. Similar to Legion melee soldiers.

-Depending on armor level, weaker to on par with Enclave National Guard

Political

-Orleans-allied tribals from the deep Bayou up the Mississippi.

-Numerous enough to be appreciated, but primitive enough to be scorned by Orleans elites.

-Many are culture-shocked by the city, and assimilate into the culture of Orleans.

* * *

Death Jaw Handlers

-Traps, Rifles

-Leather Armor, upward to Death Jaw Leathers (exceptionally strong medium armor).

-Always accompanied by Tamed Death Jaws

-Mid-high tier: less about the Handler, and more for the accompanying Tamed Death Jaw.

-Tamed Death Jaws are less powerful than their wild equivalents, but still considerable

-Rare encounter. Usually found with Orelans forces away from city.

-Hide/harass tactics: will sick the death claw, then engage with potshots at a safe range

-When a Handler is killed, a Tamed Death Jaw has a high possibility of going on a rampage, attacking friends and foes alike for increased damage.

Political

-Death Jaws can be tamed, and most Death Jaw tamers are aligned with Napoleon.

-Taming and training an adult Death Jaw takes years. The current generation of battle Death Jaws were just born when the war started.

-Death Jaws babies are life companions to those they imprint to.

-The Enclave is interested in getting Tamers of their own, but Orleans forces kill any who try.

-After an early Enclave massacre of the original Deathjaw breeding grounds, the Orleans Deathjaw breeding program was relocated to Gulfport for safety. The surviving baby deathjaws of the early massacre are now reaching maturity.

-Tamers are almost always Bayou-trappers.

* * *

Author Note:

The Orleans military is less political than the Enclave, so there's a bit less to say. I'll just say that I really do love how the Fallout universe makes it plausible for a quasi-Napoleonic army and backwoods rednecks to fight a war with a modern or outright futuristic military like the Enclave and it come out to something approaching a fair fight.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Napoleon's armies are a visual spectacle thanks to the plethora of dye and pigments available in the Bayou. Unlike other regions, where color is rare and dusty and dirty clothes are the norm, Orleans has the Bayou to bring life and color to the region. The Bayou's versatility, and the evolution of the wildlife to the chemicals and toxins of the old world, can't be understated. Orleans planations cultivate plants used for everything from medicines to grandes to dyes.

Red, White, and Blue are three of the strongest colors in Orleans, and the Napoleonic uniforms of Orleans reflect the same. The strength and color also happen to reflect the experience and pride of the forces. The newest troops, the regulars being issued fresh uniforms, are the brightest and most lively- and the most likely to die with bright uniforms being obvious targets. Veterans, with more time and wear for the idealism and dyes to fade with dirt and grime, are more worn and weather even as they become more practical for blending in with the terrain: soft blues and dirty whites-nearly-brown for the Bayou. But then, once you get past the jaded cynicism and fatalism to the renewed vigor of patriotism mixed with fanaticism, you get the once again brighter colors of the Grenadiers and the Royal Guard, the later of whom wears heroically and patriotically painted power armor that can withstand any threat or fear.

Or so goes the color metaphor for the Orleans army.


	30. Factional Forces: Blue Waters

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional Forces: Blue Waters

* * *

Just a little breakdown of the various factions and their forces, as well as interesting/relevant points of note. Giving a sense of their organization, their types of mooks, their specialties, and any relevant politics of note.

Most enemies have a stronghold where they are exceptionally present. It could be their regional HQ, or just a beast nest. This is not their exclusive area, but at least one where they have an exceptional presence.

* * *

Blue Waters

The Blue Water Pirates are part pirate-alliance, part umbrella corporation. They are a collection of subgroups, including literal pirate bands, mercenary companies, fledgling wasteland companies, and so on. The one thing they all have in common is that they submitted to Captain Supermutant's monopoly, rather than be destroyed by it.

Blue Water forces are the most generalist. You get a little bit of everything with them, and frequently mixed around. They have the most pre-war scavenged gear, and the most pre-war non-energy weapons. Most pirates use guns rather than energy weapons, and have better armor than Orleans. Mercenaries from across the Wasteland, having heard about the Orleans conflict, have signed up as mercenaries and have been employed against all sides- even against other Blue Water mercenaries. So long as battles stay in the Bayou and not the board room, playing both sides is par for the course for the Blue Waters.

While exceptionally decentralized, the nominal leader of the Blue Waters is Captain Supermutant at Pirate Cove. The economic heart of the Blue Waters is Camp Cargo.

* * *

Security Forces

Military

-Pistols, revolvers, batons. Capable of high-end pistols as well.

-Light armor, ranging from mercenary gear to pre-war police armor.

-Low-tier security forces. More willing to fight raiders than the Orleans Police, but not by much.

-Found in Blue Water-owned populated areas, and in a few of the neutral villages resisting Enclave and Orleans influence.

Political

-Guards from a Blue Water conglomerate of for-profit sheriffs and peace-keepers.

-Part protection, part actual protection. Blue Water mercenaries and raider groups will not accept contracts against settlements that pay for Blue Water protection. That that do have their assets seized and are destroyed by Talon Company and the Supermutants.

-While they will protect people from raider attacks and keep the local peace for their clients, they will also beat them up and shake them down if they don't pay their money.

-The for-profit Sheriffs run the Blue Water Bounty Association, a more profit-driven alternative to the Regulators.

* * *

Raider Groups

Military

-SMGs, Pistols, primitive melee weapons

-Raider leathers, armors.

-Low-tier forces, early game staples.

-Found between towns, usually attacking Enclave or Orleans civilian traffic.

-Inferior to Enclave Guard, Orleans Regulars.

-Occasionally seen fighting Orleans/Enclave forces, and usually losing, or the mercenary groups hired to protect against them.

Political

-Various raider gangs/groups assimilated by the Blue Waters. Most comply after being forced to choose between making money or facing Blue Water attacks.

-Mostly Evil, and encouraged to be so. Littlehorn and Associates makes a pet project of trying to recruit the most vicious gangs of raiders and 'civilizing' them so 'socially acceptable' status... though his real goal is to condition society to accept them, rather than the other way around.

-Frequently hired by Orleans or the Enclave to fight the other, making them de-facto auxiliaries to the other force.

-The 'worst' of the Blue Waters ground-forces, in ability and conduct.

* * *

Merc Groups

Military

-Assault rifles, shot guns, frag grenades

-Combat Leathers, Body armor

-Low-mid to mid tier

-When not found outside city, also found around residential areas

-Par with Enclave National Guard, Orleans Regulars

Political

-More 'professional' mercenary groups assimilated by the Blue Waters. A good reputation for not turning on their employers, unlike raiders.

-Hired not only by Orleans and Enclave, but also 'neutral' neighborhoods or Blue Water enclaves.

-Mostly neutral in alignment and karma. Soldiers of fortune who tend to have some civility off the battliefield, unlike the raiders.

-A number of mercenaries are actually from the wider wasteland. The Orleans conflict has been going on long enough that a number have made it to the coasts and signed on with the Blue Waters.

-Unlike raiders, who are paid to raid and die behind enemy lines, mercenaries don't take suicidal contracts.

-While some might accept contracts on you, once the Navigator's reputation has grown high enough only the most ambitious of mercs (such as Talon Company kill teams) will abandon a contract with proper speech checks.

-The main-stay of the Blue Waters on land. Mercenaries may or may not be hostile on sight to the Navigator, but fighting them rarely carries reputation penalties.

* * *

Heavy Merc

Military

-Mid-tier mercenaries. The 'generic' Heavy Trooper, and most common source of non-powered armor.

-Pistols, SMGs, small guns.

-Heavy trooper armor is any kind of power armor stripped of servo motors and repainted. Heavy Merc armors are not considered Blue Water factional, and are worse than factional equivalents.

-Semi-common encounter. Effectively an upgrade/replacement to scrap metal armor raiders, but supporting the mercenaries instead.

Political

-Private individuals who came across power armor and decided to become a mercenary as a result, or professional mercenaries who have saved up and invested in the extra protection.

-Unorganized, untrained, and usually poorly equipped for offense. Many have spent so much money getting the servos taken out that they barely have enough for weapons.

-Some are foreign mercenaries who came hearing about a war, and some are local-born who scavenged an armor and thought it would make them a good mercenary.

-Often specially-targeted by the Enclave (and Brotherhood) to get 'wasted' armor back.

-Spawn with regular mercenary encounters. The primary source for getting non-powered power armor.

* * *

Pirates

Military

-Revolvers, guns, knives, grenades, rare rockets.

-Light armor. While they are pirate themed, the main reason is that falling overboard and not being able to get back out of the water is a death sentence.

-Low-mid tier threats overall. They can do damage, but tend to have less endurance.

-Found near water: either on the coasts, or along the river/in the Bayou. They tend to sail their boats and close in on the Navigator to attempt a boarding action.

-Occasionally attack civilians of all factions.

-Weaker than Enclave Guard or Orleans Regulars.

Political

-Pirate groups forced into line for the Blue Waters. Because they have boats already, unlike Raiders the Monopoly tolerates no refusal.

-Primarily employed in the conflict on the south-side of Orleans, at the Mouth of the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain Bayou, and along the Enclave coastline.

-Disliked and distrusted by civilian communities and the more 'corporate' elements of the Blue Waters. Have a well-deserved reputation as the raiders of the waters.

-Mostly evil, and for the same reasons as the raider groups. Littlehorn and Associates is a proud sponsor of piracy in the modern age.

* * *

Talon Company

Military

-Assault rifles, combat shotguns, energy weapons, and grenades.

-Combat armors, including distinctive Talon Armor

-Come in 'Rookie', 'Veteran,' and 'Elite' tiers, from mod-low to high tiers.

-An increasing late-game force, with veterans replacing rookies.

-Their Veterans are more powerful than Enclave National Guard or Orleans Veterans, and their Elites are the most powerful non-power armor factional force short of the Supermutants.

-Compose the heart of Blue Water strike teams. Piss off a powerful enough Captain of the Blue Waters and a Talon Company strike squad will take a contract on you.

Political

-Recruited/rescued from the Capital Wasteland by Captain Supermutant and Littlehorn, and now the primary non-mutant enforcer of the Blue Waters. Along with the Supermutants, they are responsible for taking down boat-owners who won't join the Blue Waters.

-They are only obligated to take contracts from Blue Water corporate leaders: everything else is optional and to their own discretion. As a result, Talon Company contract carries a lot of weight and significance as only very powerful or wealthy people can afford them.

-More famously, Talon Company is the primary Blue Water force responsible for balancing the Orleans-Enclave conflict. Every fiscal quarter they take a contract from Captain Supermutant to support the 'losing' faction in balancing the other.

-Considered an 'elite' force of mercenaries. They hire and train locals and volunteers from across the wasteland, with rigorous training and competitions to weed out the weak.

-They are, without question, the most famous and respected non-power armor force in the region. Talon Company has fought the Enclave Army and Veteran Orleans forces and accomplished their mission. They don't have the manpower to fight a war, but they can dictate who wins a battle.

-Range from neutral to evil. Their corporate CEO is Littlehorn, who favors vicious intelligence and amorality in his leadership. While advancement up to sergeant is a matter of ability, the upper ranks need Littlehorn's favor to gain power: hence the joke 'You don't need to be evil to rise in Talon, but it helps!'

* * *

Talon Heavies

Military

-Borderline high- to elite-tier. The Blue Water Heavy Troopers.

-Heavy trooper armor is Enclave Mk II power armor stripped of servo motors and repainted red.

-High-tier guns, including assault weapons, anti-material rifles, and mines. Also advanced melee weapons.

-Uncommon, but more common than any other factional heavy trooper. Individuals will bolster Talon Squads in Act 1, and compose entire squads on their own in Act 3.

Political

-Elite Talon Company veterans: professional soldiers of fortune with a life-time contract with Talon Company. Talon Heavies are part of a special group known as the Red Devils.

-Identified by the paintjob, with a fearsome reputation for ability and ruthlessness, they are the Talon mercenaries who only take contracts from the Orleans/Enclave faction that the Blue Waters feel is losing.

-The fearsome reputation and myth is that each Talon Heavy personally killed the person who used to wear the armor, and that the red paint is the blood of the man or woman they killed to get it.

-A major force in Act 2's finale and the possible betrayal moment. Talon Heavies are against whichever faction you gave the cure to, and can be either friend or foe depending on which faction you start with and whether you betray or not.

* * *

Supermutant Pirates

Military

-Machine Guns, Missile Launchers, Heavy Weapons

-Super Mutant Armors. Pirate hats.

-Elite tier. They match or surpass the Enclave's power armor forces, and have the individually strongest units in the game.

-Depending on Mutant armor, equipment, threat ranges from below to better than Enclave Veterans

-More of the Fallout: Vegas mutants (rare, high-level opponents) than the Fallout 3 supermutants (common foes).

Political

-Captain Supermutants personal force, and a decisive force in the balance of the war. Both times the Supermutant Pirates were deployed, the war stabilized.

-Includes survivors of the West and East coast super-mutant armies.

-Captain Supermutant actively searches for and recruits super mutants into his force

-The Super Mutant Pirates are based on an island in the Caribbean, suggested to be Cuba.

-Feared and loathed by the Enclave and Orleans forces alike.

-Captain Supermutant's lieutenants are intelligent Supermutants who tend to believe in his long-term benefits of his goals.

-Long-term goal and motivation of the Supermutant Pirates is a homeland they can survive in, and to search for any FEV outside of North America that could sustain their race.

* * *

Author Note:

The Blue Waters are unique among the major factions in that, by and large, fighting Blue Water forces doesn't lose you reputation. Most Blue Water forces are mercenaries at best and raiders at worst, and the Blue Water corporate attitude towards such losses is that the mercenaries knew the risk when they took the job. Today's client may be tomorrow's target, and vice versa. It may have other consequences, such as personal retaliation or complications, but the rule of thumb is that Blue Water mercenaries who die on the battlefield aren't an issue: there are always more mercenaries or locals with guns to hire on, after all.

Reputation losses are focused on Blue Water territory and the merchant wing. The Blue Waters run a tight ship, and fighting on their turf is strictly forbidden- even if the victim isn't a Blue Water themselves. Likewise, stealing or harming a Blue Water merchant is not only a hefty reputational loss, but a quick way to get a hit squad after you. The most common cause for Blue Water disapproval would generally come from Choices or quests from others that go against Blue Water interests. The only times that fighting Blue Water forces leads to reputational losses is when you kill them in the course of contracts by the Blue Waters themselves- such as the Supermutant Pirates attacking the Hidden Village.

The simple way to make it apparent when fighting is fine versus when it would have reputation consequences is to identify the mercenaries in question as Blue Waters or not. Call it taking advantage of game play and lore segregation: by lore, nearly all the mercenaries in Orleans are Blue Water affiliated, but in the game play only the ones who are considered Blue Waters for factional purposes would be labeled 'Blue Water Mercenary' in VATS. The ones you are free to kill would just be 'mercenary.' Factional Blue Waters will never attack the Navigator on sight or unprovoked, no matter the reputation, so if you have any doubts just wait to see if they'll attack.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Though the Blue Waters have the fewest distinct types of forces, they would actually have the most variety. Blue Water mercenaries would actually be most of the 'raider' encounters in the game, except in the deep Bayou where it would be Brown Waters, having been hired by the Enclave or Orleans for general purpose mayhem behind enemy lines. Countless little mercenary or pirate companies, constantly being raised and fighting and being wiped out and being rebuilt under new management, with some of the Big Name gangs and groups being notorious in their own regions.

None of these groups are particularly important, mind you. As far as the player is concerned, they'd just be differently themed raiders and possibly a few lines of context dialogue or involved with a local quest. But the Blue Water military forces, with no motivation except for profit (bar the Supermutants and Littlehorn's influence in the Talons), are the most varied and inconsistent military faction in the Bayou.


	31. Factional Forces: Misc

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Other Forces

* * *

===

Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood of Steel remains militarily potent but politically self-marginalized force. They have quality forces, but are smaller than even the pure Enclave. Brotherhood forces are neutral in the conflict, and all three factions allow them (mostly) free passage through their territory.

Brotherhood forces are mostly found at their various outposts, but groups of them can often be found at various civilian centers, such as Bourbon Street or the various Blue Water bars/entertainment centers. These 'tourists' on leave travel as groups, stick together, and mostly stay to themselves.

The headquarters for the entire Brotherhood of Steel is their command bunker.

-

Scribes  
Military  
-Energy pistols, Ballistic Fists  
-Scribe robes  
-Low-tier threat. Equivalent to an Enclave Scientist.  
-Always guarded  
Political  
-The scientists, obviously  
-Frequent tourists  
-Often look down on locals.

Initiates  
Military  
-Energy pistols, ballistic fists  
-That under-armor thing they were, including recon armor  
-Always in groups  
-Lower-tier threat. Never a hostile force.  
Political  
-New trainees. Many were recruited from war orphans.  
-Frequent tourists.  
-Home-grown Initiates have actual political sympathies in the conflict, favor getting involved. Most favor Orleans.

Knights  
Military  
-Energy weapons, heavy conventional weapons  
-Power armor.  
-Travel in groups, either in squads of Knights or babysitting tourist groups.  
-Upper-tier threat.  
-Equivalent to an Enclave Regular.  
Political  
-As opposed to the younger generation, typically traditional Brotherhood Isolationists  
-Frequently griping about baby-sitting details of tourist protection  
-Veterans remember the fight with the Enclave. Proud of their fighting, but have no desire to repeat it.

Paladins  
Military  
-Gause rifles, heavy weapons  
-Advanced Power Armor  
-Lead Knights.  
-Elite-tier threat  
-Equivalent to an Enclave Veteran, weaker than Enclave Heavy.  
Political  
-Mostly the same as the Knights.  
-A few see an Orleans victory as the best possible outcome, and are open to intervention.

===

Brown Waters

The raiders of the Bayou. With the exception of their headquarters, they are always hostile on sight.

Military  
-High-end raider weapons: assault rifles, SMGs, shotguns, rare explosive, frequent chems  
-Raider armors  
-Work in large numbers  
-Lower to lower-mid tier. Numbers elevate their threat.  
-Hostile to every faction, except at Brown Water Base  
Political  
-Largest Raider group in the Orleans-area  
-Located at the Bayou  
-Mostly evil

===

Mardi Gras

The dancing clowns of Orleans, raiders who are exceptional for their festive garb and their tendency to throw bead-bombs at you.

Military  
-Laser weapons, explosives, unique Bead Bomb chains (throw lots of little explosives)  
-Wear costumes, harlequin masks  
-Move by dancing  
-Work in numbers  
-Present in Orleans, at the margins of areas of influence. Pop-up out of sewers, abandoned buildings.  
-Control a lot of the underground passages other than the canals.  
-Hostile to everyone not wearing a Harlequin mask, costume.  
-Lower-medium tier threat. Main threat is from bead-bomb explosions.  
Political  
-The last major in-city gang/raider group in the city of Orleans  
-Control a lot of the impassible-interior of the city. No one can easily reach them.  
-Mostly marginal and an annoyance, not a priority threat.

===

Ninjas

While most stay at the Hidden Village, the occasional ninja goes afar looking for work as spies, assassins, and agents for whichever faction will pay them. Both the Enclave and Orleans hire Ninjas as agents and spies, though not necessarily recognizing them as Ninjas.

Military  
-Unarmed-weapons (punching weapons), knives, small throwing weapons, calptrops.  
-Whatever clothes their current disguise has. No armor.  
-Low-mid tier threats. Individually strong melee, but not particularly dangerous.  
-Will try to knock-down/stumble opponents, and then flee while throwing caltrops. Caltrops injure legs and reduce movement speed, giving the ninjas a better chance to escape.  
Political  
-They seek employment as spies in order to gather money for the village.  
-Disguise themselves as civilians, locals.  
-They have no uniform, distinctive tattoos, ornate crests, or headbands.

* * *

Author Note:

Just the brief roundup of the other notes I had. Aside from that, some of the questions or comments posed:

Q: Will the DLCs have a connecting plotline like Ulysses was for New Vegas?

A: No. All the DLCs are geographically, thematically, and factionally independent of each other with no unifying plotline. The Ulysses plotline of FNV was in part a consequence of the concession of Ulysses as a Legion-aligned companion that was cut, but no such concession was needed in this outline.

Q: Do you plan on including a Wacky Wasteland chapter detailing some of the more pop-culture joking sections of the world a player can encounter?

A: No. I am open to the idea of a Wacky Wasteland toggle to the Bayou, but aside from a few mentions I did not plan for one. Many of the cultural references and gags would need to be opportunities identified in the implementation phase, and I generally avoided that level of detail.

Q: Are there romance options with any companions/any npcs?

A: No. Open-world Bethesda RPG settings like FO3, Skyrim, and similar are great structures for stories relying on settings and world building, but not for character-centric and intensive personal stories such as a Bioware RPG. While there would be characters you could flirt with, and characters you might love and adore, there would be no major romance subplots. FOO would follow in the model of FNV, which had developed companion arcs and missions but no explicit romance arcs.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Aside from the Big Three, the Brotherhood of Steel is the only other significant military power in the region- it just isn't that significant. While they view themselves as the king maker and the decisive factor in the setting due to their importance in stalling the Enclave in the first years of the war, in reality their time has passed. The Blue Waters, who militarily couldn't overwhelm the Brotherhood, have long since stolen the role of swing faction thanks to their economic power and their willingness to be involved. The Enclave, though initially dependent on the purist Army that the Brotherhood matched, has since recovered its losses and then some with the establishment of its governance and the rise of the National Guard. Even Napoleon has pursued the war without depending on the Brotherhood. Ultimately the Brotherhood can only survive at the leisure of the other factions: never for the Enclave, kneeling to Napoleon, or as their own private fiefdom if the Blue Waters claim the city but don't destroy them.

The Brown Waters are the biggest raider faction in the region, exceeding and opposing the Blue Waters. The Brown Waters, more an alliance of vicious backwoods bayou hillbillies, have a blood feud going on with the Blue Waters (and everyone else) in what amounts to a turf war. While Littlehorn nearly salivates at the prospect of bringing the Brown Waters into the Monopoly, their leader's claimed price is extreme: he wants to be an Admiral in the Blue Waters, a rank explicitly above Captain Supermutant (even though the Blue Waters don't have such a rank structure). Convincing Captain Supermutant to accept the loss of face for the greater good of the Blue Waters is a key challenge for the Blue Water takeover of Orleans.


	32. Factional Forces: Ghouls and Zombies

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Ghouls and Zombies

* * *

Ghouls and zombies aren't an organized faction, but are a major factor of the Bayou. The two are related. Thanks to the persistent radiation and chemical concoctions that flow through the water, ghouls in the Bayou grow increasingly strong over time. This list shows the ghouls and zombies in their order of power, from weakest to strongest.

In contrast to Ghouls (irradiated human), (Voodoo) Zombies are still-living humans that have succumbed to poisons and chemicals of the Bayou, losing their minds and ranging from pliable slaves to raging berserkers. The chemicals and poisons make for a familiar wrinkled and rotting effect, and on a chemical level it is similar to the ghoulification process. 'Zombies' is locally used to refer to both Voodoo Zombies and mindless ghouls, whether passive slaves or berserker ragers.

Some Witch Doctors with centuries of lore and learning in the Bayou have even found a process to turn Humans into ghouls in a reliable fashion, just as they have found a way to turn both feral and non-feral ghouls into pliable zombies. Bayou Witchdoctors have learned how to create and control zombies and ghouls, giving them a dark reputation for mastery over life and death.

Feral Ghouls and Zombies, common encounters in the Bayou, have no headquarters. While zombies belong to local Bayou witch doctors and the Legendary Ghoul of the Bayou has its own significance, otherwise they are unfortunate souls and bodies that have been lost to the Bayou.

* * *

Voodoo Zombie

-A human who has been drugged and conditioned into a docile, zombie-like state.

-Non-aggressive unless ordered.

-Low threat

* * *

Voodoo Ghoul

-A ghoul, feral or otherwise, who has been conditioned into a docile state

-Non-aggressive unless ordered

-Low threat

* * *

Irradiated Ghoul

-A ghoul which has absorbed so much radiation that it can expel its own

-Thanks to the chemicals of the Bayou, not all Irradiated Ghouls are feral.

-Modest threat

* * *

Irradiated Zombie

-An Irradiated Ghoul that has been turned into a voodoo zombie.

-Modest threat

* * *

Marsh Man

-A ghoul in the Marsh south-east of the city

-Has plants and vines tangled along, giving some extra durability and a possible whip attack for increased range.

-Modest threat

* * *

Bayou Ghoul

-A ghoul that has been soaked in the radiation and chemicals of the bayou.

-A step above even irradiated ghouls. Stronger, tougher, and faster.

-Middle-tier threat.

* * *

Bayou Zombies

-Bayou Ghouls turned into zombies.

-Not aggressive unless ordered.

-Middle-tier threat

* * *

Irradiated Swamp Ghoul

-An Irradiated Ghoul soaked in the chemicals of the bayou.

-A leap above their non-Bayou equivalents. Notoriously tough.

-High-level threat.

* * *

Ancient Bayou Ghoul

-A Ghoul that has survived in the Bayou for decades, even centuries.

-Their skin is like stone, their muscles like iron, and every strike is like being hit with concrete.

-High level. Two or three can take on a death claw.

* * *

Ancient Irradiated Bayou Ghoul

-An Ancient equivalent of the Irradiated Bayou Ghoul.

-Elite level. One can take on a death claw.

* * *

Bog Bastards

-A voodoo zombie/ghoul of exceptional note

-Berserker warriors of a nasty witch doctor

-Exceptional not only for their durability, but they use melee weapons.

* * *

Ghoul of the Bayou / Legendary Ghoul

-An irradiated Ghoul that has been in the Bayou since before the Great War. It survived nuclear Armageddon, and has had centuries to increase in power.

-A pre-war Ghoul, it was Patient 0 of Ghouls in pre-war America and was subject to radiation experiments at the Power Plant.

-It escaped the power plant while it still retained sanity, but has long since lost it.

-A Legendary Creature. There may actually be two of them in the world.

* * *

Author Note:

Short and to the point. Feral ghouls don't have terribly much lore about them to add.

In the latest simple question to answer: there is no 'canon' gender for the Navigator. There isn't even a canon race, per say- the prior considerations aside, there's nothing inherently 'wrong' about the player character being human or a ghoul or even a supermutant. Like the other Fallout games, and most RPGs in general, the player's term of address is both gender and ethically ambiguous by design. You are a navigator: the only 'canonial' insinuation about that is that you navigate. While symbolism and metaphors can surround that, all other background is left open for the player to headcanon and role play. Want to pretend your Navigator is the Courier who was the Lone Wanderer who has wandered the wasteland changing careers and leaving the past behind? There's technically nothing that prevents that role play.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Just from my notes. Ghouls and zombies were intended to be one of the more common encounters in the Bayou once you got away from settlements. While most factional patrols and presence would be in the vicitinity of the towns, with the odd patrol in between, most encounters in the Bayou would be animal/beast encounters or... ghouls and zombies.

Both the Enclave and Orleans have a live-capture hunting quest in the Bayou. The Orleans Zoo will pay the Navigator for recovering samples of Wasteland beasts. Certain Enclave Scientists will pay for the capture of a variety of zombies. Capturing a creature requires knocking them out with fatigue weapons: weak, cumbersome items that will knock out the enemy at high damage levels. The advised route is to do damage with your conventional weapons first and then apply the knock out, but the biggest challenge is in not killing the target first. Especially if you have a companion in the fray.

Obviously, but only in retrospect, the ghoul capturing mission for the Enclave would be in support of their super weapon program. A neat point of reflection would be that if you captured a unique ghoul in the quest, it would spawn (as friend or enemy) in the Enclave's ghoul apocalypse.


	33. Companion: Jonas: The Bureaucrat

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Companion Characters

* * *

Enclave Companion

Jonas: The Bureaucrat

* * *

First impressions are important, and the Enclave companion doesn't exactly get a strong one: a clean-shaven guy in a pre-war business suit looking not only conspicuously out of place in a seedy bayou bar, but standing up against someone three times his intimidation factor over minor harassment of a waitress. A tourist playing hero, an empty suit way out of his element. While his laser pistol wins the argument without actual violence, just talking to him briefly reveals that he was a pencil pusher before quitting his job just the week prior. He is, in other words, a man way out of his element.

This is Jonas. He was a member of the Enclave's administrative section, the bureaucracy that keeps the Enclave occupation running. Safe, cozy, boring. Why is he out here in the Bayou? Why did he suddenly quit? Well, he'll tell you because he was bored and wanted to do something impressive to woe some ladies. A wannabe action hero, if you will, complete with suit and laser pistol. Superficially superficial.

Truth is, of course, that it's a bit deeper than that. Jonas is 'pure' Enclave, from an exceptionally accomplished family of soldiers and scientists who have done well since the Great War. He was raised and trained in an Enclave military family and, as fitting as a companion, excels in fighting- but he has never gotten a chance to follow in those footsteps. He didn't get the job for the occupation by his own merit or interest, but because his parents pulled strings to get him a safe, cushy job. After a life time of having his role and future determined by parents with influence, unable to even join the military forces due to his parents pulling strings for 'medical disqualification,' walking into the Bayou with a laser pistol and good intentions was about the only way he could think to take his life into his own hands.

Jonas is the good-karma idealist, or as close as the Enclave produces, the impatient one who wants to make a difference after a lifetime of being held back by over-protective parents. Enclave by upbringing in the reformist school of thought, Jonas believes that the Enclave can do something for the Wasteland and that doing so would actually advance its goals more than paranoia or xenophobia. Jonas is a man who is finally entering a 'rebellious' phase: in part because his family has been so entwined with the Enclave, he's exceptionally ambivalent for the most part, willing to work against them in individual cases for the right reasons. Despite this, however, Jonas has a strong undercurrent of pride in both his family's past and role with the Enclave and American History, and his lingering sentiment towards the Enclave is conflicted with his ties to his parents and his ability to act independent of them.

Jonas's personal mission revolves around him coming to terms with his overshadowing parents. Jonas's quest triggers are a 'tourist' model as used in the FNV quests for Arcade and Boone and Veronica, where by taking Jonas to certain Enclave locations prompts dialogue and character development. This comes to a head when his influential parents get Enclave soldiers assigned to recover him, kicking and screaming if necessary. The player can push Jonas down two paths: opposing his parents in order to establish his own independence, or coming to terms with returning to the Enclave.

Pushing Jonas to assert his independence means not only breaking his ties to his parents, but also the Enclave. In practice this means killing/tricking/persuading the pursuing Enclave squad to give up the search, on the grounds of because Jonas is either dead or a traitor (or your supremely high reputation with the Enclave means they shouldn't cross you). It results in Jonas being both willing to work against the Enclave in general, and pushes him to work towards starting his own name. The ideal option for those who want to fight against the Enclave with all companions, if Jonas survives he will become an actual Bond-esque hero of sorts, a man in a pre-war business suit who goes around and helps those in need with his wits and a quick laser pistol.

Helping Jonas comes to terms and accept his family's concerns means convincing him to return with the retrieval squad, primarily by persuading him (via speech check or item delivered) that he can help more people from using his position within the Enclave than he can outside of it, and that the ancestors he is proud of had to work within confines of what they could do as well. Taking this path actually leads to an unexpected meeting with a representative of Governor Hans: Hans has been striking deals with Jonas's parents in order to strengthen his own position, but Jonas is recognized as an idealist in his own right. Hans and his representative propose a deal of their own: in exchange for Jonas's personal support (and thus the Jonas family name), Hans will re-assign Jonas to a position of 'independent inspector' for the Occupational Authority. This gives Jonas not only the freedom from the influence of his family without sacrificing his legacy, but enables him to work outside the system (as a companion) and simultaneously push the system to help more people. Assuming Jonas survives and the Enclave wins, Jonas gains a reputation as an anti-corruption figure whom pursues and rectifies the sins of the Enclave apparatus that break its own rules.

Jonas is intended to be a companion who is relatively easy to keep, even if you oppose the Enclave. Fortunately he's not an ideologue, and Jonas's identity crisis is stronger than his sense of patriotism. Jonas views the Navigator as his ticket and means to traveling and figuring out what he wants to be. Even if the Navigator is disliked by the Enclave, it's tolerable. Jonas will only abandon the Navigator if forced to fight Enclave personnel (with one speech check for a second chance and exceptions if confronting corrupt Enclave who attack) or if the Navigator's reputation reaches Hated-levels of reputation with the Enclave (where disapproval level is two levels more than the positive approval level). As the player can relatively quickly complete Jonas's personal quest and make Jonas lose the Enclave leanings, it would be quite possible to have an anti-Enclave playthrough with Jonas as your permanent companion.

Jonas's companion perk is 'Bureaucrat's Expertise': Jonas gives a boost to non-combat skill checks, such as barter or science options, including access to Lady Killer or Confirmed Bachelor options through Jonas. Pushing Jonas to become independent gives him a combat boost as well. Convincing Jonas to use the Enclave's system from within increases the non-combat boosts.

As a companion, Jonas can use his knowledge of the Enclave and Occupation Authorities to provide extra dialogue/options in Enclave-related quests. (An example: Jonas can identify when a group of Enclave soldiers are doing something that breaks Enclave laws, and this can be used to convince them to stop whereas otherwise they'd fight back.)

If Jonas's companion quest is never completed, Jonas gets himself killed in a barfight.

* * *

Author Note:

The first of the companions. Then will come DLC, and after that some of the miscelanious and cool worldbuilding things to distinguish the setting. And... that's about it. We've well passt the half-way point in terms of the heavy content.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Jones was the first companion, went through the fewest revisions, and yet I'm still not sure I can capture his essence right.

Coming from the Pure Enclave, Jonas from the start was going to be restricted to some variation of a soldier archetype, a scientist archetype, or a bureaucrat archetype. Of the three, the most naturally unconventional and least 'tainted' career path was going to be as a bureaucrat: as a soldier the player would connect him with Enclave military brutality, and a scientist might be linked to the scientific atrocities, but the bureaucracy... if there's a part of the Enclave that can claim to be beneficial, it's the bureaucracy. It can be beneficial in the abstract and overall affect without being sympathetic or compromising in the particulars, with a focus on rules that can be both life-saving and life destorying - a good analogy for Jonas.

Jonas provides factional insight through the reformist branch of the Enclave. While Governor Hans is the figurehead and occassionally slippery/morally flexible political head of the movement, Jonas was the insider view of how such a view could not only justify itself to the Enclave, but to the outside world. Here is a person who, having been privileged to grow in security and knowledge and with resources, believes that they can put those gifts to overall benefit by using them openly. It would be wrong to say he wants to redeem the Enclave for its past crimes, but he is the sort of person who would redeem the culture by balancing the bad with some legitimate good: the optimistic take on the future of Orleans under the Enclave.

Despite this, he shouldn't be confused for a liberal-minded and soft-hearted reformist who opposes what the Enclave stands for or believes. The Enclave's Arcade Gannon he is not. Arcade was a benevolent and liberal with anarchist levels, a firm believer in self-determination at the lowest level and suspicious of the imposition of authority from above. Arcade understood the difference between bad and worse, and so preferred anyone over the Legion, but his preference was also independence. Arcade would have disliked and likely opposed the Enclave's actions in Orleans more than any other faction. (Arcade might not have liked any of the factions, but he seems doomed to face unhapiness in any future.)

Jonas is not. Jonas is proud of the Enclave as an enduring element of the past and as a potential benefactor for the future. Jonas is comfortable with the general militarism and rigidity of the Enclave and the bureaucracy: he's a reformist in that he thinks it should be opened to wastelanders and that the Enclave should obey it's own rules, not that the hierarchical or organization focus on order is bad or illegitimate. He's a man who believes in sacrificing for the greater good, best measured in the material quality of life. The Enclave can do that best, bringing the most and best technology and education and governance, and so it is his moral and preferred solution. Yes, it means cracking a few eggs to make an omlette- but it's for the greater good. He's just opposed to wrongfully breaking eggs not needed for the recipe. Is that hypocritical for someone who runs away from a life in the bureaucracy to be supportive of the rule of bureaucracy that can dictate people's lives? Perhaps- but Jonas's issue is being forced into a life and career he didn't want, and the Enclave bureaucracy doesn't reach quite that scale.

I call Jonas an idealist, and he is, but as far as the Enclave goes idealists are within the scope of the Enclave, not the outside. Enclave idealists believe the Enclave is already the best option for the wasteland, despite its flaws, and hope to reduce them to make it even better and more obvious to everyone else. An Enclave idealist doesn't look at the flaws of the Enclave, think 'that's so horrible and worse than everyone else,' and then defect as a natural consequence of morality. If Jonas abandons the Enclave, it is putting his own freedom and self-interest over the greater good: it isn't a moral defection and repudiation of the Enclave's invasion, conquest, or administration. He is being selfish, not sticking to his morals.


	34. Companion: Charles: The Grenadier

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

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Companion Characters

* * *

Orleans Companion

Charles: The Grenadier

* * *

The Grenadier is of the 'Veteran' wasteland archetype: someone who's comparatively old (late 30's), has been around and seen a lot, and has the advantage of age on a lot of people. A Neutral-Karma character, Charles is defined by his history and his ties to the Orleans of old.

Charles was once a slave. From where isn't important to him: what does matter is that Charles' new life began under the Orleans Republic. Bought by agents of the First Consul, Charles served his tenure doing public works in Orleans, and then received citizenship when his contract concluded. Impressed, inspired, and in a sense saved by the First Consul's policies, Charles volunteered and joined the Orleans military, helping to keep order in the city and to fight the raiders and brown water pirates. These were the good old days for Charles: he had pride, purpose, and a dedication bordering on devotion towards the First Consul and the ideals of the Republic.

While Charles remained in the military and fought in Napoleon's new offensives against the brown water pirates of the Bayou, Napoleon's systematic dismantling of the democratic underpinning of the Republic, and the militarization of the First Consul's progressive projects, increasingly disillusioned Charles about the direction his beloved Orleans was going. When Charles was wounded in a conflict with the pirates, he took the opportunity to leave the Orleans military with honor. By the time the Enclave invaded, Charles was too disgusted with Napoleon to want to re-enlist, and has spent the duration of the war staying out of it as a reclusive retiree in the bayou, sympathizing with Orleans but repelled by its leader, particularly Napoleon's slave-soldier policies of directly putting slaves into the military whether they want to or not.

Charles' personal mission comes to confronting his lingering nationalism and love for the long-gone Republic and views on Napoleon. After visiting enough Orleans-related locations and triggering thoughts on the Orleans of old versus the present, Charles comes to terms with one of two viewpoints.

The first is that the spirit of the Orleans Republic is dead and gone, and never to return. Napoleon's militarization was already killing it, even without the Enclave's arrival, and a Napoleon victory would simply see the continuation of the Empire that subverted the Republic. Charles is bitter towards Napoleon, even more so than before. Regardless who wins, the Republic is dead, and so Charles doesn't care who wins (and so is willing to aid the Enclave victory). Charles, if he survives, lives on to be a bitter man and a vocal critic of Napoleon, but otherwise politically apathetic.

The alternative is to rekindle Charles' Orleans patriotism. The player can stress that Napoleon's militarization was a necessity in enabling Orleans to survive the Enclave in any form, and that the Republic would have been overrun in short order. While Napoleon has subverted many policies for the war, there remains the spirit and memory of the old Orleans behind them, elements that can possibly be reclaimed in the future after Napoleon. Charles re-embraces his Orleans loyalties (and now becomes hostile on sight to any Enclave forces, ala Boon and the Legion), and hopes for an Orleans victory in order for any part of the Orleans Republic to survive. If he survives in an Orleans victory, Charles is a distinguished Grenadier who pushes (with mixed success) for Napoleon to reinstate some of the egalitarian elements of the Orleans Republic.

Charles' companion perk is 'Grenadier Mastery': both Charles and the Navigator can throw further, faster, harder, with greater accuracy and more damage. This applies to grenades and throwing weapons. Turning Charles bitter increases accuracy and range: rekindling Charles' patriotism gives an explosive damage bonus against all enemies of Orleans (Enclave and pirates).

As a companion, Charles has ties with a number of Orleans veterans, who will give information that could not otherwise be given.

If Charles companion quest is never fulfilled, he remains bitter and divided, shooting at trespassers to keep off his lawn.

* * *

Author Note:

One of the things I enjoyed about FNV was the unique companion perks: they brought some extra utility value and synergy to having companions compared to FO3, where companions were generally lackluster baggage carriers. While Jonas was an explicit attempt at a non-combat skill bonus (and I've always mused whether he should just provide the player a bonus, or be able to provide the skills himself to hack/speach up to 50), Charles was an attempt at a combat-focus companion with a synergy focus. That synergy being 'anything that you can throw.'

It's a bit amusing, really. I love the concept of explosives in FO3 and FNV. They're powerful, rare, potentially extremely useful, and the perks and home-made crafting that go with them in FNV are fun. I loved the idea of hand-crafting explosives, and it's a major point of the Bayou's crafting system and Orleans military strategy to have so many potential types. I just... really can't stand to use them. My manual throwing aim suck, but the VATS use of grenades is horrible: it's accurate, but then you're stuck doing nothing and taking damage as you wait for the grenade to go off. As a result, grenades are just vendor loot for me.

In my personal headcanon of FOO, The Game, VATS would fix that and you'd go out of VATS as soon as you threw the grenade, rather than track it through the explosion. Then I would use grenades religiously.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Charles was the second companion, but the first to feel complete. He's basically a grouchy retired veteran general old person who is a mix of NCO and old fart who's too old for this shit and yet all the more imposing because he is as old as he is. If all those elderly tropes don't give the general picture, consider his profession. Anyone who can live to the ripe old age of late 30's when throwing around explosives for a living is, in technical terms, a badass.

Where Jonas was open to being turned against the Enclave because he was running away from his present, Charles is able to go against Orleans because it's firmly in his past. He's a relic of the Orleans that was, not the Orleans under Napoleon, and so while he has a strong soft spot for the common soldier he isn't beholden to Napoleon. He doesn't attack the Enclave on sight, doesn't even particularly hate them, and like Jonas you have to pretty much be pure hated by Orleans for him to leave your employ.


	35. Companion: Sandra: The Black Heart Pirat

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Companion Characters

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Blue Waters Companion

Sandra: The Black Heart Pirate

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An evil companion who is a woman to boot. What next? There's nothing particularly sexy about this pirate lass, however: first, she's a ghoul. Second she hates everyone but ghouls. Third, did I mention she's an evil ghoul pirate?

An unapologetic raider who hates smooth-skins with the passion only a ghouls with centuries of discrimination can hold, Sandra is the nastier sort of pirate. Once a feared pirate sailing from Cuba and tormenting the Florida coasts, she commanded a fleet of a dozen ships until she was challenged by the beginnings of the Blue Water Pirates under Captain Supermutant. Lawful-evil to the extreme (with is to say that she'll keep any bargain she cares to make), she accepted a duel from Captain Supermutant: whoever won got the other's fleet. She lost but was not killed, and was surprised when Captain Supermutant spared her and claimed that, as part of her fleet, he owned her as well. Too proud to go back on her word, she's spent the last several years as an enforcer of Captain Supermutant.

Sandra is evil, but the entertaining sort who would enjoy watching the world burn but can't be bothered to light it herself. Channeling comedic sociopathy similar to HK-47, Renegade Shepard, or any Sith, Sandra is scathing and has a particularly destructive sort of snark for idealism, nobility, and the sort of people who don't kick puppies. Enjoying violence and approving violent resolutions (except when ghouls are involved), Sandra is a blood knight that none should confuse for wanting to be a hero.

Sandra likely serves as the Navigator's guide to getting to the Cure Facility. She's also plot-enabled later on as well: when the Navigator makes it into the Pirate Cove fortress and talks with Captain Supermutant, the leader of the Blue Water pirates 'lends' Sandra's services as a companion as a show of good faith between the Blue Waters and the player. As a companion, Sandra encourages the player to help ghouls but is evil in all other cases, and mocks white-knight players: while she must obey, no one said she had to like it. Sandra has no preference towards Enclave or Orleans, and will not turn if the player gets too low a reputation with the Pirates: only a direct order from Captain Supermutant on specific conditions will make her turn on the player.

Sandra's character mission comes in the form of a prospective corporate coup within the Blue Waters against Captain Supermutant that the Navigator can stumble over. A small number of lower leaders want to overthrow the boss, and want Sandra's silence or, better, her help (which means they ask the Navigator, who currently holds Sandra's leash). In exchange, they promise to release her from her contract once they assume power, and promise rewards for the Navigator. The Navigator and Sandra can agree to help the coup, remain silent, or turn the coup over to Captain Supermutant: Sandra's inclination is to remain silent, but if the player finds proof that the coup-leaders intend to double-cross Sandra even if she helps (they'll simply keep the contract in force) she'll volunteer to tell Captain Supermutant herself. Regardless of what the player intends, however, the coup fails: Captain Supermutant knew about it the whole time, and was using it to expose conspirators and judge Sandra's loyalties.

If the player remained silent or even tried to support the Coup, Captain Supermutant doesn't mind, much. Conspiracy is part of life in the Blue Waters, and now he knows to keep an eye on you. But you get off easy, because he still has use for the Navigator's talents. Sandra, however, doesn't get off so easily: it's clear she has no loyalty whatsoever to the Blue Waters, and so Captain Supermutant tightens her oaths absolutely, forcing her to agree to permanent obedience to the Blue Waters for the rest of her life without possibility of freedom. Sandra is forever hateful, but obedient when kept on a short leash. Come the finale, Sandra will attack the Navigator during the end-game if the Navigator refuses to side with the Blue Waters in the climax.

If Sandra is persuaded to reveal the coup herself, or the player does it for her, either by showing her the double-cross evidence or passing a speech check, Sandra's slavery is broken. By not backing the coup, or even standing by, she has at last 'proven' herself to Captain Supermutant by willingly serving without the need for coercion of the contract. Captain Supermutant releases her from her oath of subservience, believing he can trust her. And to Sandra's surprise, she isn't overcome with a desire for revenge once free: she sticks around the Blue Waters voluntarily, a trusted (if independent) agent of Captain Supermutant… if she doesn't betray him in favor of the Navigator in the endgame.

Sandra's mission determines her 'loyalty' should the player cross the pirates at the end. If Sandra is bound by her oaths, she will always be a hostile enemy if the player refuses to unleash the Zombie apocalypse. She will either betray the player if a companion, or be a member of the Pirate assault force that attacks. This also applies if the companion quest is never taken.

If Sandra is released from her oath, however, Sandra is quite happy to repay the Navigator for her freedom with a favor. As a companion, she won't betray the player if you side against the Blue Waters at the end. If not the active companion and the leader of the pirate force, a speech check can convince her to not join in the fight in order to settle all debts between them.

Sandra's companion perk is effectively the 'Contract Killer' perk from Fallout 3: any good character killed while Sandra is a companion drops an item that can be sold for caps and negative karma. A Sandra with a tightened oath grants combat bonuses to herself and the player. A Sandra freed from her oath will increase the value of the Contract Killer perk. When she is a companion, the Navigator can enter normally restricted Pirate areas.

* * *

Author Note:

Sandra is my first attempt at an evil bitch character. There's really no better term for what she is supposed to be: she's not a good person, and she revels in doing bad things. Which doesn't mean she can't be an interesting or amusing character, in say the way that HK-47 from KOTOR was a comedic sociopath, but she's really not someone who approves of or would be won over by moral rectitude. Rather than the contemporary image of pirates as somehow lovable scallywags, she's an appeal to the historic pirates of legend: people capable of great cruelty and brutality in pursuit of their own greed.

That's the idea... but I'm not sure I'm good enough to make her an interesting evil bitch. Putting in a soft spot for fellow ghouls was a later development to leave anything likable with her. Lawful Evil was another aspet: something to give the players a reason to not except a stab in the back. And so on. I even toyed with the idea of making her mutually exclusive with another companion, to the point that they would fight eachother on sight and it would be impossible to keep them 't get me wrong- I can write evil. I just tend towards intellectual evil rather than sadistic and vicious evil: evil with a purpose rather than just evil in nature. Someone who is just a selfish bitch? Not so good at.

Point is, Sandra feels unfinished or unrefined to me, and would be the most open to further refinement by whoever particularly cared.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

While her origin is vague, Sandra is a Cuban pirate. Cuba, like most of the Caribbean, was hit hard by the Great Wars: easier to carpet bombs with nukes, and no safe areas to avoid the fallout. For good measure, much of the Caribbean was colbalt-bombed by unidentified South American parties and rivals, leaving a lingering island of radiation that still exists to this day. The only people who have survived on Cuba were those who became ghouls, and the only ghouls who haven't gone feral from the lingering radiation are those who stay on ships off the coast, often as pirates preying on the other boat peoples who work to stay off the radioactive islands. The closest thing Cuba has to a city is Havana, a necropolis of ghouls (mostly feral) which serves as the largest pirate hub of the Caribbean. It has no permanent sentient population: ghouls who stay too long end up going feral. But there's always somebody there to do business with. Until the Cure of the Bayou can be used to counteract the lingering radiation, Cuba is effectively uninhabitable.

The Blue Water consolidation of the Cuban pirates was an extension of their consolidation of the Blue Water monopoly. The earliest corporate elements of the Blue Waters were a security group / protection racket of some of the boat people to defend against pirate attacks. Captain Supermutant, with the aid of the DC supermutants he recruited, cornered the protection market and soon came into conflict with unaccountable pirates from Cuba. While Captain Supermutant eventually won Sandra over with a duel, most pirates were brought into line when Supermutants, landing elsewhere on shore and marking from inland Cuba, were able to seize the pirate ships in their docks and threatened to destroy them. Caught between submitting to the Blue Waters or having their ships destroyed and turning into feral ghouls, the Cuban pirates broadly capitulated and have since become a major part of the Blue Waters.


	36. Companion: Helen: The Regulator

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

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Companion Characters

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Neutral Companion

Helen: The Regulator

* * *

Helen was once a peaceful merchant-wife who sailed the Gulf Coast. When Helen's husband refused to join the Blue Water trade monopoly, he and the rest of the family were brutally murdered as an example to other sailors who would resist the Monopoly. Helen, who had been away onshore at the time, was the only survivor. Upon recovering the corpses, Helen picked up a gun, joined the Gulf Coast Regulators, and has since killed every pirate she could. She wants Wasteland Justice against the Blue Water monopoly, and is quite happy to avenge others along the way.

Helen is not 'factional' in the sense that she cares about the war, but she is very troublesome and anti-factional: Helen will attack Blue Water pirates and mercenaries (but not merchants) on sight,and will only restrain herself in 'public' Blue Water locations if the player can make the high speech checks convincing her not to. This means that otherwise neutral Blue Waters, who are common sights at and between most settlements, can easily turn into out-of-control firefights once the bullets and explosives start flying.

Helen is the anti-Sandra, both conceptually and in practice. Helen is good karma, smooth skin, and besides her vengeance crusade a rather pleasant person who appreciates when the player does good things. Helen doesn't care about the Orleans/Enclave conflict, has a soft spot for children, and is even understanding towards the Blue Water merchants who have no choice but to join or die. Only her white hot rage towards the Blue Water pirates and their enforcers stands out as a prominent flaw.

Helen's recruitment starts early on, even in Act 1, with a focus on helping her Regulators deal with some Bayou pirates. Come Act 2, she wants revenge anyone involved in her husband's death. Along the way, Helen's quest becomes a question of what to do with her life after achieving revenge: stick with the Regulators to fight injustices, or settle back down and move on with her life. It's important to note that getting revenge or not isn't an issue for her: it's moving on after the revenge that matters to her. Along the way she both confronts and exemplifies the Regulator's increasingly outdated vision of vigilante justice, and how difficult it is to reconcile with the civilizing wasteland.

Leading her to decide to remain with the Regulators leads her to do just that. You could convince her of the merits of continuing to fight evil, or convince her that having indulged in revenge she isn't suitable to go back to a life of peace. Helen becomes a legendary Regulator for standing up to impossible odds for the innocent and taking on any perpetrator, no matter how powerful. Helen eventually faces the victorious power of Orleans and is executed, but her death spawns a legend and a line of secretive Regulators who carry on her convictions if not as openly.

Leading her to decide to move on leads her to establishing an orphanage with the profits of her bounties and former shop, an orphanage she keeps safe with a trusty shotgun at the door and is kept afloat with the aid and additional protection of the Gulf Coast Regulators. While Helen herself is not remembered, her orphanage produces a number of notable persons who would be remembered for improving Orleans.

Helen's companion perk is the 'Lawbringer' Perk of FO3: evil characters killed drop an item that can be sold for money and karma. Convincing Helen to stay a Regulator gives combat bonuses against Evil Characters and Blue Waters. Convincing Helen to move on and use her merchant skills to live a more normal life leads to a more profitable form of the perk. As a companion, people in the Bayou who depend on the Regulators will be more friendly to the Navigator, and her presence will open doors and loosen tongues that would otherwise be closed. If Helen's companion quest is never undertaken, she'll die in a suicidal attempt to storm a pirate den.

Helen is supposed to be a very difficult character to use depending on player intent, an inversion of the original Burned Man character (a powerful evil companion in battle who would automatically attack various tribals and who required high speech checks to keep in line) mixed with Boone's total anti-Legion sentiment. Helen is a combat-powerful Good ally who sparks conflict with evil characters and a major faction: this isn't bad for characters who want to play such a character, but incredibly difficult for those who wish to coexist with the pirates. Taking Helen to some of the smaller settlements where Blue Water mercs stand guard is a good way to see an entire town end up in a gunfight.

* * *

Author Note:

I like Helen despite the flaws in her character. Besides that she has a great name, I really liked the idea of an inversion of the Burned Man concept, of someone who is difficult to keep around (because they would attack all the bad people on site). I tried to tone it down and push it towards a more acceptable, identifiable target, but the idea is there. The difficulty in managing her would work well with the theme of the Regulators as social outcasts: players wouldn't want to take her into a settlement where Regulator justice might be pursued and result in a huge fight. Plus, the counterpart perk to Sandra's were a nice touch.

That said, I am well aware she could stand more retooling. This is a character concept, and not really a character sketch with a defined personality. As it is, she's about as bland as, well, something very bland. No real personality is established. Her back story is kind of wishy as well- it went through a few revisions in which she had a personal vendetta against Sandra and that the two would kill each other if they ever met- but 'merchant wife turned Regulator with grudge against pirates' was the crux of the character idea.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Sandra and Helen both provide rewards for fighting certain karmic alignments. Where does that come into play best? Well, as long as you keep in mind that Neutral Karma filters in to all the groups...

Good Karma:

The largest group of good karma is, unsurprisingly, civilians. Orleaners are, as a broad stroke, decent people no matter whose rule they fall under. The enlightenment and optimism of the First Consul is still going strong, and most just want to live in peace and build a better future. When wiping out towns, Sandra is the best companion to get the most value out of the experience.

Factionally, the highest percentages of Good Karma can be found in...

The Enclave National Guard is the main force of idealists in the Enclave. Both local born collaborators and the Pure Enclave reformists have a significant presence here.

Orleans doesn't have a particularly virtuous branch, but it does have a higher ratio of good people overall than other factions.

Blue Water Merchants. Some are greedy and evil, but most are just an honest living. The evil sort tend to congregate in the raiderand pirate companies. Mercenaries, while mostly neutral, have a few good/honorable apples: the evil sort tend to be grouped with the raiders. The 'mercenary' and 'raider' distinction is often more a moral than practical division.

Guards and law enforcement, at least the honest ones, would also generally be considered good karma for the purpose of the perks.

The Brotherhood of Steel, as racist and standoffish as it can be, also has a good number of good-karma believers in the benevolence of their mission.

Evil Karma:

The largest group of evil karma is, naturally, raiders. For just making more money out of the random encounters with them, Helen should be your choice.

Factionally, the highest ratios of Evil Karma can be found in...

The Enclave Purists and Orleans Police. The racists, brutes, and dirty cops focus here. The Purists have a significant minority in the Army, and are most common amongst scientists.

The Orleans aristocracy and slave traders. Not all aristocrats are evil, but it is a field that attracts the most ambitious and greedy. The slave trade, by wasteland custom, is universally considered a necessary evil.

Blue Water raiders and pirates and Talon Company. The Blue Water combat forces have the highest ratios of evil people, higher than the Enclave Army.


	37. Companion: Jack: The Masquerade

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Companion Characters

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Neutral Companion

Jack: The Masquerade

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Jack is the neutral companion from Vault 365, a Vault whose experiment revolved around… festive costumes. Given too few jumpsuits and reams and reams of festive costumes of various quality and the supplies to make more, this Vault experiment was not a failure, but certainly strange. Status within the Vault is measured and reflected by the quality of one's costume: while everyone is issued a costume as a child and a new one by lottery once they reach adulthood, the quality of one's costume determines how desirable or liked someone is. Those who win great costumes, or can make their own, are the 'elite': those with poor, worn down costumes are tasked with the worst jobs. Everyone wants to be a good with a needle, since making one's own costume can mean the difference between menial labor in the lower parts of the Vault and relative ease in the eternal party atmosphere at the top. The best gift a person can receive is a quality costume piece made by a parent or friend.

This is, in other words, the Halloween Town of Vaults. Everyone is trying to out-do everyone else in effect, and everyone's costume tends to reflect their role or nature. The Janitors wear slave-costumes. Vault Security wears monster suits. Socialites try to dress as sophisticated royalty or vampires: scientists as MAD scientists. The only person in a Vault Suit is the Overseer… who wears the most-prized 'Overseer Costume', and a Pipboy (or Pipgirl) mask.

Jack (sexually ambiguous: lack-of-armor 'underwear' is actually an under-costume that still hides gender) is the Vault Dweller who wants to leave. A mid-level person with a modest costume, Jack neither has it bad or great, but Jack wants to leave. In the course of the Vault Quest (in which the Navigator, upon making contact with the Vault, realizes what's going on and resolves a potential lower-caste revolt), Jack will be exiled from the Vault and can only return once Jack has brought back a thread dye chip and a hundred new costumes for the Vault, which should supply the Vault's costume needs for another century at least. Upon being kicked out, Jack is available for recruitment.

Jack isn't particularly bummed out about this exile, and is more interested in seeing the Bayou. Karma-neutral, Jack also doesn't care about the war or any of the groups in particular. What Jack does like is seeing all the different types of clothes people wear, and how the Vault rules don't apply when a dirty-dressed person can get away with telling off a frightening person in power armor.

Jack's companion quest really is part parody quest of FO1 in the search of a Dye Chip, and part the collection of costumes, a new semi-common (if not prevalent) type of clothing/armor across Orleans. More specifically, the player is supposed to turn over different types of clothing/armor to the Vault 365: every 'new' type of equipment (pre-war business wear is distinct from pre-war casual wear is distinct from etc.) is worth +5 for the first, +1 for duplicates, while Costumes (an armor class in itself: light, medium, heavy, costume) are worth +5 always, and the player is supposed to give 250 points worth to the Vault. This is a reward quest of the player's own volition, with new equipment is rewarded with caps/items, but Jack doesn't particularly encourage this.

As the quest goes on, however, Jack opens up more to the player for going through this effort. At the stages of 25%, 50%, etc, Jack gives inner thoughts: about how Jack dislike the extents of the costume-caste system within the vault, how Jack really wanted to leave, how Jack loves how even more diverse the outside world is, but also how Jack also loved the theatrics and atmosphere within the Vault, and how much love people put into their costumes. Jack's dilemma is balancing wanderlust to explore the variety outside the Vault with a love for the Vault.

Once you collect enough costumes, Jack will receive information about the location of the thread dye chip, stuck on oil platform off the coast. Upon retrieving and returning to the Vault with it, Jack is faced with a choice.

Persuading Jack to embrace and explore the diversity outside the Vault leads to post-game Jack starting a notable clothing caravan that tours the Bayou and Wasteland, showing and gathering exotic costumes and clothes for all to see. Jack returning to the Vault after wanderlust fades leads to Jack becoming a costume-maker in his own right, using Jack's needle skills to balance out the disparity within the Vault by making exceptional costumes for those stuck with the worst.

In case it needs to be blatantly obvious, Jack is something of a nod/parody of the traditional Vault-hero... complete with Epic Quest and gender ambiguity.

Jack's companion bonus is 'Festive Dress': it provides significant combat bonuses to the player and Jack when wearing costume-type armors, making normally poor pieces of equipment viable or even superior. At the same time, however, it reduces the effectiveness of non-Costume equipment. Persuading Jack to embrace the diversity of the Wasteland leads to a variation called 'Diversity' in which the costume bonus is increased but all equipment gets a gradually accumulating penalty that is reset by the player switching costumes. Convincing Jack to go back to the Vault and use Jack's costume-skills there provides the 'Creation' perk: Jack now helps you with equipment maintenance, effectively giving you the jury-rigging perk for all clothes (but not weapons). If Jack's companion mission is never completed, Jack is one day killed for his/her shoes.

As a companion, there's one other special asset that Jack brings to the player. As long as Jack is wearing a costume, the festive-themed raiders known as the Masquerade Raiders in Orleans won't attack when encountered, and the player can enter the Masquerade home without paying an entry fee.

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Author Note:

Jack is my favoritist companion. Pretty much a hommage to wasteland heroes everywhere, with ambious character, the quirky Fallout sense of humor, and the post-apocalyptic hero's journey. I honestly don't know if Jack inspired Vault 365 or vice versa, but Jack is one of a kind.

The gameplay concept of costumes will be gone into later. Short version is, it's a chance for visual experimentation and variation in the wasteland, a sort of accessory or replacement armor system that you can wear instead of (or, sometimes, over) regular equipment for extra visual flair and status effects. Jack makes wearing costumes rather than combat armor a much more viable build.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Vault 365 is an open vault but relatively closed society. The Vault opened during the era of the First Consul, but despite positive trade relations (clean water for clothes and dyes, mostly) the Vault had a culture that defied assimilation into Orleans. The Vault dwellers, enjoying the Vault more than the Bayou, continue to live within it. While some vault dwellers occassionally go out to visit Orleans, and tourists are allowed into the Vault, there are no beds or rooms to rent. All outsiders stay and sleep at the trading post/old boarding house outside the Vault.

In the current war, Vault 365 is stubbornly neutral. It trades with whoever can make it to the trading post, but it doesn't provide any strategic resources or military manpower to one side or the other. Content to close the door and keep the party going inside if it any faction gets any ideas.

There are no factional quests to break in or take over the Vault, and prompting a player massacre of the Vault will see the outside survivors enter after you leave and seal the door for another century or two.


	38. Companion: BDJ: The Baby Deathjaw

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Non-Human(oid) Companions

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BDJ: The Baby Deathjaw

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Deathjaws, unlike Deathclaws, can be tamed without the use of fancy controller collars. It's a hard, dangerous, costly business, but a valuable asset to those who can take the opportunity and have the time to let them mature… and a good profit for the Hunters and Trappers who do it.

For either a good deal of caps (say 5,000 at the barter discount from 8,000 standard) or an exceptionally hazardous quest in the Bayou (going in radioactive, Deathjaw-infested waters to find a lost Hunter), the Navigator can get a Young Deathjaw imprinted on them as a loyal companion. The 'dog' of the game, the Baby Deathjaw (namable by player, but everyone calls it something else) waddles after the player, rushes to bite things, and has exceptionally tough hide. It wavers between 'cute mutant gator-thing' and 'playful'.

The Deathjaw quest is that as it grows and matures (reaches level X), the Deathjaw starts getting violently aggressive. A chance for berserk in combat at the start, but also even attacking non-hostile characters. Once this happens the Navigator can go to the Tamers for assistance, and learns it's basically Deathjaw puberty/jealousy and that the thing is naturally territorially-possessive of you, especially if you have another companion. The player has a few options, some that require caps favors and some that don't.

If the player doesn't have the caps or doesn't want to do another option, the player can leave things be for now. A later choice is allowed, but for now the Deathjaw has the 'Possessive' trait that gives it a bonus to stats, but a risk for berserk/attacking non-Companion NPCs to 'prove' itself to you. This risk goes up by level, and by high levels is a near-guarantee for a fight in any town.

The player can put down the Deathjaw. Doing this kills the Deathjaw, obviously, but the player gets a unique perk (something like 'Putting Her Down') that provides bonus damage against all Deathjaws in the future. The Traders also offer to turn the loot from the corpse into a special set of Deathjaw leathers for you, which have superior stats to regular deathjaw leather clothes.

For a few thousand caps, the Navigator can 'bond' to the Deathjaw, appeasing it's jealousy and encouraging its protectiveness without it attacking others. Baby Deathjaw gets some significant stat bonuses, particularly to its speed and attack when it's the only companion, but it can NOT be fired or dismissed. (Excect for DLC, at which point Baby Deathjaw is waiting for the player upon return and automatically rejoined.) This option is good if you never intend to have the other non-Human companion, or just want one companion in general.

For a few hundred caps, the Navigator can neuter Baby Deathjaw. Baby Deathjaw loses the stat bonuses from its 'possessive' state, but gains a bonus to damage tolerance and will no longer attack others. Baby Deathjaw can also be fired.

If the player finishes the game without doing the companion mission, Baby Deathjaw eventually attacks someone in a town and gets killed by an armed mob. If player finishes the companion mission and Baby Death Jaw was neutered, Baby Deathjaw remained a calm and ever-loyal companion who disappeared into the Bayou after the Navigator died. If 'bound', Baby Deathjaw either fought to the death to avenge the Navigator's death (if Navigator dies in an ending), or remained an ever-present bodyguard who birthed litters of little Deathjaws that imprinted to the Navigator as well.

* * *

Author Note:

Baby Deathjaw (I never use the acronym personally) is the replacement for having a Dog. I realize having a Dog is something of a Fallout tradition- there's been a companion, if not much of a story arc, in every previous Fallout game- but I wanted to do something different. Part of it was fulfilling that silly little wish of 'why can't I have a badass Wasteland creature as a companion?', part of it was just for diversity, and part of it was because it made less sense in the context of a region in which the phrase 'eating dog food' refers to eating dogs as food, a degrading act of a desperate survivalist. Wild dogs are considered unclean, eaters of trash and known to cannibalize other dogs and the pack of weak cowards ganging up on individuals and innocents provide them a negative moral character in the Orleans context. Orleaners would listen to the tales of the most Good Karma Lone Wanderer going around with Dogmeat and think 'I knew there was a character flaw in there somewhere!'

Personally I think dogs are an under-recognized food source in the Fallout universe. I came to the conclusion during an analysis session of Fallout 3, where there were no major domesticated animal industries for food- no brahmin barons or bighorn herds explicitly for food. You had hunters, but the packs of wild dogs seemed like both a dangerous nuissance and yet a viable food source. FO3 never did anything with it, so it came into Orleans, and with a cultural aversion to dogs it didn't make as much sense for the player to get one by default.

Then came the companion decision between having the tamed deathjaw (a concept of the setting since the beginning), or a Bayou Bobcat (a later addition as the culture of Orleans and the Bayou was fleshed out). The tamed baby deathjaw (baby for balance) won out- partly out of inertia as the first contender for the role, part of the supporting lore that always had deathjaw tamers as Fallout-verse alligator handlers, and ultimately because I had a story concept in mind for the deathjaw but none for a cat companion.

As a final note, tomorrow will be the last companion. Any companion-related questions, and questions in general, will get a look there.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

First, the most obvious. The name Deathjaw was inspired by the conversation in FNV's Honest Hearts DLC in which a cocky wannabe shows his incompetence by confusing Deathclaws for Deathjaws. Even though the idea of a mutant aligator would almost certainly have existed regardless, the name stuck forever after that.

In setting, Deathjaws are a strategic resource. Fully grown, they are effectively loyal Deathclaw companions who, protective and territorial tendencies aside, remain almost unstoppable juggernauts of jaw-crushing destruction. Deathjaw handlers have always had a quiet but significant role in helping keep Bayou raider tribes like the Brown Waters away from the city. The First Consul created the first organized Deathjaw nursery to breed and tame Deathjaws in larger and more organized numbers, one of his few standing military policies of note.

When the Enclave came, one of the earliest things they did was destroy the nursery. The adult tamed deathjaw population was massacred, often from air by Vertibirds hovering over and unleashing gattling fire, and the Enclave Army went in to shoot the babies and stomp on whatever eggs they could. It was just one of many Orleans disasters of the opening years of the war, and Napoleon had the survivors and any Deathjaws that could be salvaged relocated deeper in the Bayou and hidden from the Enclave. Only now are the first post-invasion Deathclaws coming of age and starting to be deployed.

For now, the only tamed Deathjaws in the Orleans area are those raised independently by independent trappers and tamers. Though the Enclave has expressed interest in purchasing tamed Deathjaws, Orleans loyalty (and Orleans retaliation) has kept virtually all tamed Deathjaws going towards Orleans or exceptionally important independent buyers.

(And, now that I think about it, the Nursery never got into the Bayou locations list. For shame.)


	39. Companion: HEF: Hologram Emitter (Float)

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Non-Human(oid) Companions

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HEF: Hologram Emitter (Floating)

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A curiosity of pre-war technology, HEF (pronounced 'Hef', as in 'heft' without the 't') is a heavily modified Mister Gutsy. How modified? Outfitted with prototype hologram technology from the Big Empty, the pre-runner to the Sierra Madre holograms, HEF is a floating hologram projector. Intended not as a weapon but as a tool of entertainment, HEF is found, broken, at the Orleans Opera House in the French Quarter. HEF was supposed to be a one-robot show, capable of producing dozens of different hologram actors at once: after being repaired by the Navigator, however, HEF can only make one hologram at a time.

As a companion, floats like a Mr. Gutsy, but instead of shooting plasma it shoots multi-color lasers (its internal laser-dazzler show). A low-damage output companion with little health or endurance, its real use comes from its ability to produce holograms: only one at a time, and only one every ten seconds or so, the Hologram doesn't attack for damage. What it does do, however, is that it attracts the aggression of any foe it 'attacks.' While the Hologram has very limited 'health' against ranged attacks, and the hologram will fall a few seconds after being with a melee attack, its distraction abilities enable it to provide a few seconds of freedom for the player to act with one less enemy in play, enabling a victory with less damage taken in a short fight.

HEF's companion quest involves 'fixing' him further with the help of three different groups that offer three different upgrades, much like the EDI quest of FO:NV. The player can let the faction take what they want from HEF and upgrade, or the Navigator can attack the group and steal whatever is needed to 'fix', but without any future upgrade. The player can take HEF to all three persons in any order at any time, but only one upgrade can be active at a time. Even after fixed, HEF can have an upgrade 'swapped' by going back to one of the three technicians, but only the 'last' upgrade carries to the epilogue.

The Orleans Opera house wants the vast library of pre-war dramas and recordings off of HEF's data base. They think they can restore its multi-hologram projector, enabling more distractions at each casting. HEF's distraction capabilities are maximized: its endurance and weapon output are not changed. If repaired here last, post-game HEF survives and becomes a star at the Orleans Opera House, capable of delivering entire pre-war dramas on its own (unless Zombie Apocalypse succeeds, in which case it just plays to an empty theatre).

The Brotherhood of Steel in Orleans notices the experimental technology involved with HEF, and offers to make HEF more dependable in exchange for being allowed to study and analyze it. In exchange they reinforce HEF's projector and hologram projector, boosting HEF's health, damage tolerance, and the endurance of HEF's single hologram (the Hologram will remain for three seconds after losing 'health', increasing the distraction against whatever creature it is distracting). If repaired here last, post-game HEF survives and eventually obeys hidden Brotherhood commands, making its way to a Brotherhood outpost where it deceived and distracted curious scavengers with Holograms that led followers to their doom.

The Enclave has a science team doing their own Hologram research, and they want to study HEF for tips on their own weapon project. They'll not only radically up HEF's damage output by turning his laser-pistol caliber projector into an RCW laser-submachine gun equivalent, but they'll adapt HEF's emitter so that the Hologram has the abilities of the Sierra Madre holograms. HEF's hologram's attack, rather than just attract agro, now deals significant hologram damage as well. HEF and the holograms are still fragile. If repaired here last, HEF survives whatever comes next, accompanying the Navigator if the player lives or finding somewhere else if not, but every Fourth of July it creates a local lightshow as it shoots into the sky for no apparent reason.

If the player doesn't do the companion quest, or doesn't let anyone upgrade HEF, eventually HEF is overwhelmed and destroyed by ghouls in the Bayou.

* * *

Author Note:

HEF is a bit of an experiment for me in a couple of ways. HEF is actually the first acronym-name character I've ever worked with, and was a fun brainstorm trying to think of an acronym that could serve as a name. HEF is also my first consideration of a companion who is intended for combat but not as a direct combat. It still needs some tweaks and might be tricky to put into implementation, but frankly I love the idea of Sierra Madre-like holograms fighting for the player. (Balanced, of course, so that the holograms aren't one-image armies.) HEF doesn't have much of a personality, of course- I don't think I ever even imagined a voice for it- but I like to think it would speak via its holograms, projecting select scenes from works of fiction to get its point across. That might be too much of a hassle for actual implementation, of course, so it would probably do ED-E speak, or at least sound effects. Finally, and most obviously, HEF is a nod and allusion towards Big MT and the Sierra Madre without being directly involved with either, but a nice reference in the same way that ED-E was a nod to the Enclave even without its story being tied up with the Enclave.

Question time...

Q: Can Voodoo Zombies be 'cured'?

A: Not at this time. The people who actually know or study the Voodoo process, the Witch Doctors and the Enclave, have no compelling interest to search for a cure to remove an asset. The only people in the setting who might have the interest and ability to invest in the topic, the ghouls of Ghoul Town, are too busy with the occupation. Curing voodoo brainwashing may or may not be possible, but no one has taken a serious look at it to figure out which.

Q: Are any of the companions LGBT?

A: Not by design- but that's because none of them have any intended sexuality and are explicitly not intended to be thought of or treated as romance fodder, not because they are assumed to be straight. Being any orientation is compatible with any of them, even Helen the Regulator, whose past marriage and child suggests but does not require conventional heterosexuality. The only companion I would suggest having a cultural pressure to be any orientation (or not) would be my personal speculations on the Enclave views of procreation, which would be more along the lines of 'don't let your homosexual affairs get in the way of your duty to produce more pure-humans for the next generation' than 'ew homosexuality bad.' Unlike the Legion with it's outright enforcement of breeding/rape camps, sexual preference and consent isn't intended to be a controversial issue of the Enclave. As for transgender... Jack could be T. But Jack is more about being androgynous and deliberately ambiguous, the sort of person who could dress up and pass as either gender and who keeps you guessing. Either/or, not both/neither.

I could have indicated any of the characters as LGBGT, but doing so when it wasn't going to be a part of the characterization felt like doing token allocation. Having a token gay, someone who is gay just to claim you have a gay character in the setting, strikes me personally as more disrespectful than leaving a relatively blank slate that could be taken in any direction desired. All the characters are compatible to being developed in any orientation you (the reader and player) would like to take them.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Companion roles. I realize now I didn't focus much on the functionality or specializations of the companions as a party member, or how they would be intended to use. Their abilities helped indicate a role, but not always how they would fight or work 'best.' So... here goes again. Try 2.

Jonas is a ranged energy weapon companion. In terms of combat he's the least impressive and useful, with no real special combat bonuses or advantages, but his benefits matter more in the non-combat realm. Jonas gives special speech options to diffuse various conflicts with the Enclave peacefully, but more importantly boosts the player's skill checks. Jonas, literally and figuratively, can open doors that the player might otherwise not be able to open. Combat-wise, though, Jonas is best thought of as the companion you dump off energy weapons you don't want to use.

Charles is combat-focused companion with a high-risk, high-reward style that affects both Charles and the Player. There is no one who can come close to the damage output of Charles and the Navigator both using explosives... but no one is as likely to frag themselves either. Charles is the king of throwing things, explosives and otherwise, but this doesn't always work out well for the player- especially if the player is a melee build. Charles doesn't automatically have explosives himself, so it's always the player's weighing of risk: you could trust Charles with the grenades and try to stay clear of the enemy, deny Charles explosives and keep the benefit yourself, or just ignore explosives entirely and try to take advantage of the thrown weapons (such as spears, tomohawks, and otherwise). The 'best' option is to avoid a melee build when going with Charles, and to give him a grenade launcher for that extra range. Charles primary skill is explosives, and secondary is melee (to take advantage of thrown weapons), but he can work respectably with guns.

Sandra is a combat beneficiary, in that she makes your combat results better thanks to the added rewards from her perk. As a pirate, she prefers and benefits from one-handed weapons. Knives, small guns, and the like are her best fields. Sandra is a good and balanced switchhitter, able to bounce between melee and range (and energy and ballistic) equally well. She's most effective if you arm her properly for the fight you're about to have, whether high-DAM or high-DPS.

Helen is also a combat beneficiary, but she is far more combat-focused than Sandra. Helen is to guns what Vernoica was to fistfights- overwhelmingly powerful. Like Boone, she can wipe out your enemies before you see them... you just might not want them wiped out. While Charles has the greatest potential damage output, Helen is the single most powerful companion. It may seem overpowered, but this is deliberate to balance out her (lack of) utility and flexibility when trying to reign her in.

Jack is the melee-focused humanoid companion, both armed and unarmed, but is intended to work best for people who expect to take frequent damage. Jack's trait is built on the idea of trading out clothes regularly, as fast or faster as they can get seriously damaged. Jack is intended to turn costumes and clothes into viable combat equipment, albeit quickly degrading types, so that the player can cycle through more common and cheaper cloth sets rather than invest heavily in a single, superior armor that is costly to maintain. With Jack in tow, a set of standard clothes like casual wear can become as good as leather armor, while costumes can easily be on level with medium combat armors. Clothes and costumes are far more common, and far cheaper to maintain, than good armor, so Jack works well with a light or medium armor build for the sort of player who prefers to carry multiple sets of equipment around for different circumstances. You save money on not investing in maintaining armor, can benefit from the exceptional stat gains of costumes without them simply being luggage weight, and can spice up the travels by going through the Bayou in atypical explorer gear rather than relying on the same conventional armor sets just because you need the damage protection.

Baby Deathjaw is a melee tank, fullstop. Not as quick as the dog companions of the past, BDJ is none the less quick enough to chase and take out a big bite out of anyone. High damage, rather than high-DPS, Baby Deathjaw is useful against heavily armored opponents and has the natural endurance to make it to them. Baby Deathjaw would have max strength and endurance, albeit with sub-par agility, making it a good pack mule companion as well to help haul off your loot. (Plus, the waggle of the tail as it waddles after its prey... so cute!)

HEF is a fake-tank ranged support. HEF isn't the damage dealer unless you upgrade, and doesn't take the damage personally, but the holograms can be invaluable in short and small battles. While the holograms fall quickly to attack, the time and ammo spent attacking them is time and ammo not attacking you. Against individual enemies in particular, this can turn a dangerous individual into a distracted target, giving you more time to deal damage (or run away). The name of the game is avoiding damage rather than enduring it, and while the hologram can be easily overwhelmed by groups of enemies the time it takes them to do so is often enough for you to thin the herd.


	40. DLC: Dread Carnival

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

DLC: Dread Carnival

* * *

Concept: Dread Carnival  
Location: Florida  
BLUF: The Navigator is enslaved and brought to The Carnival, a horrific continuation of a pre-war amusement park in which slaves are put through deadly games for the amusement of the paying audience  
Genre: Circus Horror  
Themes/Motifs: Post-Apocalypse Amusement Park, Circus, Slave-Actors, Earning Wealth/Freedom by pleasing the crowd, Costumes

* * *

Set Up:

The initial framing device for starting the DLC is 'Visit the Carnival.' The Carnival is referenced by travelers, especially sailors of the Blue Water Pirates, as the 'Most Amazing Show in the Wasteland.' Posters to see the Carnival are posted across Orleans. Upon downloading the DLC, the Navigator picks up a radio broadcast offering a trip to see the Carnival up close. Upon going to the docks, the Navigator and a large crowd of people are led onto the boat… and then gassed.

Waking up, the Navigator finds him or herself chained in the hold of the ship, along with all the other passengers. You are going to the Carnival… as a performer, as a slave, until you can please the crowd enough as to pay off your 'debt' for the passage. Naturally this will involve thrilling, terrifying, and dangerous feats of bravery, skill, and combat, all for the pleasure of the watching crowd.

The Carnival was a pre-war Amusement Park in Florida: think Disney World. This not-Disney World has all the expected things: streets done in various foreign styles with post-apocalyptic themed merchants, a zoo that now serves as slave pens, roller coasters and amusement rides as guard look outs, a haunted house, and so on. There are also large tents everywhere, covering many of the broken and decayed buildings from the rain: only a few landmarks (a Castle, the Haunted House, etc.) are intact and outside of the tents.

Surrounding the park is the pre-war security system, lethal-shock electric fences and land mines to protect against Communists, and even a moat filled with Death Jaws. On top of these, guards patrol the grounds for runaway performers: these guards are recognizable because they always dress in Costumes, particularly the cute and amusing ones of the theme park characters.

In terms of scale, the entire Carnival is akin to Point Lookout or Old World Blues in size and scale: smaller than Zion Valley of Honest Hearts, but large enough to warrant its own nav points.

* * *

Story Premise:

The Navigator needs to do well in the Carnival to survive and win their freedom. A variety of tasks are available for people to pursue, tailored to different builds and skill-sets: some are combat-related, some aren't. Most are twisted and often-lethal versions of classic feats of daring: a marksman show in which the performers are supposed to shoot the apple from eachother's head… the 'winner' being the last person with an apple (or head) remaining. An explosively fun version of dodge ball, in which teams throw sticky bombs at each other. 'Trip Out', a game in which the contestants are given all manner of chems… and then run a deadly gauntlet through both the highs and the withdrawal, overcoming dangerous traps with skill and special checks (strength to move a rock, endurance to avoid flinching in a pain test to avoid a fight, Luck for Russian Roulette, etc.). The Circus has tasks requiring you to be involved with increasingly dangerous beasts and animals. A survival-game inside the Haunted House, in which one participant is given a knife and a slasher villain costume, and everyone else is unarmed and tries to survive with their wits and speed. Etc. Naturally the more dangerous the task, the greater the reward.

As the Navigator moves up in the slave-performer hierarchy, he/she draws attention from the Ring Master himself. The leader of the Carnival wears a Pip Boy costume, and one of his character gimmicks is that he uses a black umbrella to hide his face when he changes faces, reflecting his current attitude with the costumed face of the moment. At the same time, from the start the Navigator has been approached and probably befriended by the broadly sympathetic Accomplice, a fellow Performer and long-time resident of the Carnival.

The Ring Master and the Accomplice were former business partners who had a falling out, resulting in the Accomplice's enslavement as a performer, a position he established himself in so well that the Ring Master dares not target him directly. Now the two are in a power-struggle: the Ring Master owns the Carnival and controls the guards, but the Accomplice is leading the 'Performer's Union,' which includes many of the best performers and claims to seek their liberation. Both sides want the Navigator's help in beating the other, and both are prepared to give the Navigator his freedom if successful. The finale would occur in the center ring of the big tent.

The character/factional breakdown will follow, but in short the Navigator determines the victor of this power struggle, and who will be running the Carnival.

* * *

Characters of Note:

Ring Master:

The master of the Carnival, the Ring Master is a distinctive figure because he wears the iconic Pip Boy costume, and frequently changes faces to express the emotions he wishes to convey. The Ring Master is the initial antagonist, the leader of the Carnival which buys your performer 'contract.' He is a classic carnie, and sincerely enjoys bringing 'joy' to the crowd, especially through the deadly games. Despite being pretty evil, he believes his circus performers are actually wasteland criminals who deserve it. One of his primary humanizing traits, and a flaw, is how he is personally loyal to his friends and his most valued performers who he thinks have redeemed themselves- to the point that he won't question them or their claims.

The Ring Master is shown to leave quite a bit of the running of the Carnival to his trusted lieutenants, who he never questions as a matter of trust, and some of the worst abuses and exploitation are a result of their own initiatives. The Ring Master is never told… and in the face of a challenge, the Ring Master believes his trusted lieutenants over anyone else. The Ring Master is something of an evil, trusting fool for the more evil subordinates.

Make no confusion: the Ring Master is in charge of the system, and he does know what it does to people. He's just something of a trusting fool as well as being evil, and believes that the people here deserve what happens to them.

Thematically, the Ring Master is a carnie. He's big and hyperbolic and tries to amp up the excitement for everyone's enjoyment (and his own profits). His volatile mood swings are represented by his frequent changing of masks.

Siding with the Ring Master involves bringing the use of slaves to light and siding against the performer revolt. Doing so will see the Ring Master take steps to only use actual convicted criminals, not slaves. He would also be open to using willing wastelanders who join in hopes of fame and fortune, much like the voluntary gladiators of Orleans. The Show Will Go On, but without targeting innocents.

Accomplice:

The Accomplice is a fellow slave, and an initially sympathetic figure who runs the Performer's Union which offers the Navigator aid. Once a partner to the Ring Master, a disagreement landed the Accomplice as a performer and soon the Accomplice organized the Performer's Union, a group to help organize Performers and help them survive/earn their freedom. The subject of the dispute isn't known, but many of the Accomplice's more devoted followers are sure that the Accomplice was speaking on their behalf, against slavery.

They are wrong. The Accomplice's sin wasn't to question the Ring Master: it was advocating the open use of slaves for the games, not just convicts, to increase profits. The Accomplice's hatred for the Ring Master isn't that the slavery happens at all: it was that slavery eventually occurred regardless thanks to the corrupt Lieutenants, but that he wouldn't get a cut of it. While his time as a slave has cured him of his desire for slaveholding, it has replaced it with a desire for revenge.

Thematically the Accomplice coaches his rhetoric in class struggle, not emancipationist, rhetoric. The Performer's Union wants freedom for the performers, not for all… and if you side with the Accomplice, you'll gradually see that the Union is more about changing places with their oppressors than resolving the issue. The Union's success means that the guards are the new performers, and the practice of using slaves continues- though the new show will be a bit less lethal (though no less painful) going forward.

In essence, the Carnival undergoes a slave-revolt that switches top and bottom. The Show Will Go On… but participation will not necessarily be a choice.

* * *

Relation to Orleans:

The Carnival is a subject of advertisement and discussion in the main game. Posters advertise it, people want to go there, and so on. The fact that it relies on slave-performers is disguised by the claim that only criminals perform there.

Other elements of note:

Costumes!

The Carnival is filled with costumes. From the Disney-esque costumes the guards wear to the distinctive Pip Boy costume of the Ring Master, the Carnival should have plenty of new clothes to wear for a festive air. Costumes very in weight and combat ability, but improvements and crafting can make some of them a viable option. Just wait until you stroll down the Bayou in your Quacker Duck costume, machine gun under the wing!

The prize costume, however, would have to be the Pip Boy costumes across the park… and its many variants, both body and head. Body-costumes are your various classic Pip Boy variances, and of course provide stat bonuses as appropriate: an engineer!Pip Boy gives + to science and repair. Soldier!Pip Boy improves combat abilities. Etc.

Pip Boy heads also provide a new way to see the wasteland. Each variation has a different expression, and a different attribute gain. Now you can have the many faces of the Pip Boy, from Smile to Sad to Angry to Laughing.

Also, you can return: after beating the DLC you can come back to explore the attractions, or play as a performer for caps and rewards.

* * *

Geography Summary

Florida is a scary place. The Belgian Congo of North America, it's a setting fit for The Heart of Darkness. The Bayou encompasses pretty much the entire state, and once you leave the (beautiful) beaches you enter a nightmarish jungle of tribals and beastly terrors. Cut from that jungle (literally) is The Carnival: the first post-war amusement park created from a pre-war one. With rides and animals, real actors in death-defying stunts, and treats and prizes, and plenty of costumes, the Blue Waters run a boat service in which tourists and would-be performers visit the Greatest Show (Left) On Earth. Truly an experience to die for.

In reality, the Carnival is a nightmarish product of the wasteland. There are rides and shows, true, but the monsters are a lot more dangerous than cute, death-defying stunts aren't so defied, and the real actors and performers tend to be slaves and criminals. Which doesn't make it any less popular, mind you, but a lot more evil. But hey, there are a lot of costumes.

Just don't buy the cheap ticket. That's the performer's ticket.

* * *

Author Note:

The geography used to be grouped with some of the other off-map locations of note, but I thought the DLC descriptions were too spoilery and so withheld them. Included it here just for completeness's sake.

I know I keep saying it, but costumes will be addressed as a mechanic later. The important take away here is that costumes can be worn over and in addition to, rather than instead of, armor of equal or lesser size. This is useful in that it allows doubling up on both the combat protections and the lower-armor stat bonuses. Dread Carnival offers a variety of the otherwise extremely rare and valuable medium and heavy costumes, which as a rule become less beneficial the larger they are.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Dread Carnival has a number of influences, both in and out of the Fallout universe.

In-universe, the biggest influence is Point Lookout, followed by the Pitt.

Point Lookout was a big influence for Orleans, especially with Punga Fruit being a mechanic to counter the overwhelming radiation threat envisioned in the earlier drafts. Point Lookout has many similarities to what Orleans looks like in my head, from the hillbilly raiders to the plantation/voodoo house to the marsh/light Bayou to the coastal cliff, and especially the omnipresent gray sky. These were all things that you could look at and think 'Orleans is just one really, really big Point Lookout.' The funny thing is, I had already settled on almost all the features of Orleans before I ever saw or played Point Lookout. It was vindication that bordered on intellectual theft, except that I had come up with the idea later. For Dread Carnival in particular, though, what comes to mind is the amusement park and the local safari. A twisted Fallout amusement park has been one of my secret desires ever since, and I couldn't resist a DLC focused on such.

The Pitt had much more influence on the story format, however. Early drafts in particular mirrored the slave revolt narrative very closely, down to the revolt leader being a former complicit lieutenant who was greedy for more. There were thematic differences, in the slaves and the civilizational rebuilding, but ultimately I pushed the ringleader to a more twisted sense of retributive justice and let the revolutionary be just as guilty as the foe he sought to replace. There is no brutal visionary looking to create a state, or some reformed revolutionary. One sees Death Games as a punishment of wrong doers, one sees Death Games as a profitable revenge, and both are willing to let the Navigator leave for their help.

Out of universe...

The anime Deadman Wonderland is the most powerful influence. From the public spectacle death games for convicts to the costumes the prison guards would wear while using guns, the entire public performance/punishment angle would not exist without this series.

Barnum and Baily Circus and Disney Land are the most obvious inspirations in terms of the style and scale we're talking about. Dread Carnival is a mix of both, and definitely plays on the daring/disturbing factor of circus performers and the excitement-horror of thrill rides and amusement parks in general.

The Nightmare Before Christmas was an inspiration for some of the of the festive costumed horror ideas. If there were to be a Haunted House and horror section, a Jack Skellington expy would be a good addition.

And somewhere out there there's probably a creepy clown or two to thank for all this as well.


	41. DLC: Caribbean Island Adventure

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

DLC: Caribbean Island Adventure

* * *

Concept: Caribbean Island Adventure  
Location: Caribbean  
BLUF: The Navigator is taken on a Caribbean Cruise for a deep-sea diving expedition, visiting cannibal-isles and going to a deep-sea pre-war Chinese science base.  
Genre: Tropical Vacation, Deep Sea Pressure  
Themes/Motifs: Caribbean Beaches, Tribal Cannibals, Cargo Cults, Submarine Dive, and Underwater Research Base

* * *

Set Up:

The Caribbean is known throughout the Gulf Coast for being little more than irradiated, cannibal-filled islands. Most of the islands, especially Cuba, were nuked during the war, and remain radioactive to this day. Ghouls dominate on land, while the sea is the domain of the Masters of the Deep, who exist here in unparalleled density.

Due to the dangers, the region is also nearly untouched by prospectors and looters. Tales of pre-war treasure still linger, as do legends of exceptional mutant beasts. At the center of it all is the legend of the Red Jewel.

You the Navigator have signed on to an ambitious salvage mission: a long-lost facility not simply in the Caribbean, but under it on the sea floor. Your expedition runs into some trouble, however, when something goes wrong (a sea beast, a storm, or anything else) and scatters the expedition…

* * *

Story Premise:

This DLC is simple in terms of story, more analogous to Honest Hearts and its exploration-focused discovery of the world. You are at an archipelago of modest islands, using your boat to sail around between them, with most narrative and back story being pre-war logs rather than current-era developments. You get a few fetch quests to point you in differing directions to stumble across or near most of the locations, but the vast majority of content and locations would be optional.

The DLC storyline is to the point: you need to find the members of the expedition who were scattered across the archipelago, reunite them, and journey to the Red Jewel. The Red Jewel ends up being a sea-floor facility that not only turns out to have been a secret Chinese naval base/bio-research lab, but also the origin of the Masters of the Deep and other Chinese secrets. You will have to overcome cannibal tribals, hostile terrain, mutant jungle critters, a lost city of ghouls, and even remnants of a pre-war Chinese conspiracy dedicated to obstructing you and continuing the War.

The Chinese Lab becomes a showdown as some in the expedition want to increase their profits by cutting out the competition. The in-group betrayal is revealed, soon dealt with, and by the end of the day the base is yours. The moral choice is between keeping the records on advanced technologies and lost history and culture that the base holds, or else deleting them to allow the science labs to continue developing a solution for the Masters of the Deep.

The Honest Hearts-style history/backstory by exploration and record discovery, however, is its own story as well. With the opportunity to develop the pre-War Caribbean, the US/China conflict as it played in the Caribbean, and the post-war development of the survivors of both sides.

In concept, the Caribbean was a US-dominated area, but with plenty of anti-Yankee resentment that translated into Chinese sympathy and support. China used the Caribbean as the forward front of its anti-US espionage and naval efforts, with secret underwater naval bases and research labs allowing easy targeting of the Gulf Coast. During the War, islands across the region were contested between US patrols and Chinese guerillas, with the Chinese efforts focused on protecting their crown jewel, a bio-research facility right at the sea floor.

This bio-research facility was where anti-American experiments too dangerous to be linked or even performed in China were done. Studying (and possibly creating) the New Plague, trials using stolen and replicated FEV, and China's own bio-mutation experiments were done with the purpose of being able to secretly and quickly deploy them to the US, right under the American's nose. The most notable 'success' was the creation of the Masters of the Deep.

The facility, code-named Red Jewel by the Americans, was the focus of American search efforts and Chinese deterrence. In fact, a pre-war conspiracy of pro-China hardliners, both Chinese survivors and Caribbean anti-Americans, survives as a tribe to this day with the sole devotion of keeping the Red Jewel hidden. They represent the closest thing to an antagonist, being xenophobic and hostile to all outsider intruders, but in their descent to tribalism they have come to believe the Red Jewel is actually, well, a red jewel, a unique circlet and treasured head dress.

* * *

Places of Note:

Given that the role of the cast is to encourage exploration of the area, rather than driving the plot itself, the locations of note are more relevant. Rather than characters, here are some nav points that would warrant consideration.

The Expedition Ship: washed ashore near the resort in the initial troubles, this would be a modestly large ship that the expedition depends on to reach the Red Jewel. It has specialty equipment to get to the Red Jewel on the sea floor, but needs repairs and the scattered crew to be fixed.

The Resort: An island-paradise that was a pre-war resort, and which survived the war both mostly intact and radiation free. Near the Expedition Ship, you can turn the abandoned hotel into a pet-project. Investing caps to restore it will see it turn into a 'hub' for the area and the local tribes, effectively creating a regional center and trading post for your convenience. Build it up enough and bring in enough people to stay, and you can actually make a steady profit from it even after the DLC.

Blue Water Weather Station: A weather station/outpost manned by the Blue Waters. It gathers weather data that provides the forecasts for the Gulf Coast. A small outpost manned by a family on a long-term contract, with regular but infrequent supply drops, they provide an initial friendly help to the shipwrecked survivors and are willing to sell their excess supplies. They help set up the resort as an ongoing outpost.

Kong Island: A hard-to-access irradiated jungle-island, this island has giant mutated beasts and gorilla-men. Pre-war, a Chinese testing ground for their own animal bio-weapons, released on US troops on the island.

Chico Tribe: An insular tribe of sane ghouls who don't like strangers, don't like you, and who have influence over the feral and near-feral ghouls of the region. These are actually the descendants of the Chinese/Latino anti-American alliance, and continue to guard the Red Jewel from all Yankees, which is everyone but themselves. They don't actually know what it is, however, and can be tricked into giving necessary help by giving them a unique treasure/head dress known as the Red Jewel. Once appeased by the Jewel, they can be friendly.

Cargo Cult Island: A Caribbean island with a Pacific Cargo Cult twist. Sort of the inverse of the Chico Tribe, these are the descendants of American and pro-American locals who shared the dwindling American supplies after the bombs fell. Smaller and more isolated than the Chico tribe, they are also more friendly: another place to trade and get leads, and a possible temporary companion. The Cargo Cult worships Uncle Sam and knows of Governor Hans and the Enclave, and claims to have had some of its younger males go off to join the Marines.

Lost City of the Ghouls: On one of the largest jungled islands, filled with ghouls, is a volcano/mountain. Inside is a small city of ghoul tribals, living in the much-improved remains of a pre-war mining facility. More of a Mesa Vedre inside-a-mountain, the ghouls are more or less trapped by the radiation outside, unable to venture outdoors for long less they go feral. Inside the hollowed out cavern they have a very Indiana Jones-esque hidden city. Besides a place to find one of your lost expedition members, and a place to trade, also the location to get the Red Jewel head dress to fool the Chico Tribe.

Masters Cult: A cannibal tribe that worships the all-devouring Masters of the Deep. With a few nods to Lovecraftian Horror and Cthulu, they conduct rituals of human sacrifice to the sea, and consider Masters Beach a sacred place. They are naturally vicious and initially hostile, but once the Navigator recovers an artifact from the Masters from Masters Beach (and isn't smote by the Masters for sacrilege, thus proving the Masters' favor) peace can be made with their Shaman. Through corrupted legend and memory, they know that the Masters origin is on the bottom of the floor from the Red Jewel.

Masters Beach: A beach on a mostly irrelevant island, distinguished by a Master of the Deep was washed ashore long ago. Depending on whether Masters of the Deep are ever fully shown, you could either see an entire full-grown Master (a Kraken-scale monstrosity), or just bones and remains that give a sense of its scale. Considered sacred by the Masters Cult.

Insurgent Isle: An island with a number of Chinese ghouls, feral and simply insane. Pre-war, one of the centers of Chinese operations in the area.

Red Jewel: The facility itself. A high-tech, sea-based Chinese base of the highest secrecy, it was both a military and science base with advanced Chinese technology. Equipped with optical and sonar stealth technologies, it is nearly impossible to find unless you know just where, and how, to look. The pre-war Chinese built it as a forward base for use against the Americans. Red Jewel is a domed-facility, similar to the main Big MT facility, and inside is a Chinese-version of pre-war advanced technology. A fair bit behind in some areas, with complaints they don't get the funding or options of Big MT, but advanced in others.

Red Jewel has a few distinct areas, sort of like the parts of the Sierra Madre Casino:

-Submarine Docks: The entry/exit out of Red Jewel. These docks were used to bring supplies and scientists, but also as a base for attacking American shipping during the war. As the Americans began narrowing down the location of Red Jewel, however, attacks stopped and shipping was locked. A few inoperative Chinese submarines remain, sabotaged after the war during a conflict between hardliners who wanted to release all the experiments upon North America and between those who didn't see a point.

-Animal Experiments Labs: A module that focused on bio-weaponized animals. An area the Chinese were behind in, this lab includes studies done on American-products such as Cazidores, or Deathclaws. The ultimate goal was to do unto the Americans what the scientists were told the Americans had done unto China: release these really dangerous animals onto the American population at home. A sub-plot is that these Chinese scientists were skeptical of the claims their superiors were making, and resisted targeting US civilians by claiming delays... and after the bombs fell, destroying all they could rather than release them all, a case of human integrity trumping immoral science/revenge. A Chinese officer released the Masters of the Deep, however, and the remaining scientists spent the rest of their lives trying to develop means to stop the Masters.

-Genetics Labs: A module that focused on genetics research and bioweapons. Involved in the creation/study of the New Plague, their last field of study was captured and replicated samples of FEV. While the FEV is long since destroyed, the genetics lab suggests that FEV production facilities were being set up in other locations around the world by not only Americans, but Chinese and other governments wanting to research the virus. An open-ended implication of more potential super-mutant outbreaks outside the US.

-Covert Ops Section: A module that focused on infiltrating and infiltrating Chinese operatives to and from the US. Including an armory for Chinese Dragoons, maintenance labs for advanced Chinese stealth technology, and a battle center for how operations in the Caribbean were going. One of the Chinese ops was trying to seek out a rival American secret base known as 'Atlantis.'

-CPU: The hub that controls all hubs, and the heart of the facility. The entire central hub is a giant super-computer, possibly a primitive Chinese AI, that has continued to function since the War, and spent centuries carrying on the last task of the Chinese scientists, to find a solution for the Masters (such as a FEV-based kill-virus that only targets them). It is rapidly reaching memory limits, however, and for it to continue it must begin deleting the long-stored technologies, records of Chinese culture, and pre-war histories that it also holds, information that could be used for good or evil but is also irreplaceable. The center of the end-DLC choice, the Navigator can either abandon the past and continue searching for a solution to the Masters, or keep the records but stall work towards a fix.

Much like the Courier and Big MT, the Navigator ends up in control of the Red Jewel, able to return to tour the Caribbean or use its facilities for his own benefit.

* * *

Relation to Orleans:

Two primary plot hooks tie to Orleans: the Masters of the Deep, and a possible tie to the Enclave Leader Captain Hans.

The Masters of the Deep turn out to be a Chinese creation, not just a natural mutation: much like the Cazadores, they broke free after the apocalypse and have been a problem ever since. Their origin, and their nature, is explored here, and Master Beach offers the best glimpse at one.

Politically, Captain Hans' issue of not being 'real' Enclave ties into the recruitment of the cargo cult. While Captain Hans' illegitimacy issue remains undefined, it can tie into the Marine's recruitment of 'Uncle Sam' followers: tribals who worship the symbols of the pre-war US government, and are thus recruited to pad Hans' faction's numbers by letting them enlist with the Marines. Using the Uncle Sam worshiping tribals, especially those who confuse Sam Hans (the person) with some version of The Uncle Sam, is a point of moral ambiguity and a hint at the Marines own tribal nature.

* * *

Other Elements of Note

The Resort

This is another DLC location with reoccurring benefits: you can come back to the Red Jewel and take advantage of its resources, or explore the islands and such. Point Lookout and Big MT come to mind.

The Resort offers an opportunity for a 'manage your own property' game as a time and resource-sink, for those who want to develop their own resort to enjoy the Caribbean sun. Sort of a mix between the FO3 Megaton House and the villa-management of Assassin's Creed, the Resort would be a source of fetch quests and investment opportunities that you could also develop for your own advantage.

Infrastructure could be repaired and cleaned by hiring some of the local tribals with caps or trade goods, cleaning up the place. Surviving members of the expedition could be paid to improve it: sometimes in caps, sometimes in materials necessary. Want to fix the cracks from Armegeddon? A pretty penny and some workmen. Want to fix the lights? Get cameras for their bulbs. Want to make the lights better? Get materials to fix the solar panels. The better your Resort, the more benefits it can offer you.

Likewise, you could involve people to make it a more productive place. All of those little tribe areas, for example, might be able to be recruited… and those people they send over to your Resort could offer services, or even partake of your services to make you some cash. If you have a merchant in your bazaar, for example, you could make some profits off of his profits, and the more people staying at your hotel the more profits you bring in. You could have vendors from the tribes, special services, crafting specialists who would hunt down crafting materials for you, and so on. Even someone you could pay (oh, five percent?) to deliver your profits to you while you are at Orleans.

Because of you, an abandoned house on a haunted beach could become the heart of a new community, which depending on size could have its own epilogue success story.

None of it would be necessary, of course, but it could be something to help keep you coming back: come back for the vendors with unique goods, for the services, for the exploration, and just for the sake of having a bigger, better house.

* * *

Geography Summary

Before the bombs fell, the Chinese spy ring known as Red Jewel operated from the Carribbean. It was the most successful spying operation of the Chinese, and the Americans never found it before the bombs fell. The First Consul, finding evidence of its existence in pre-war records, charted a team to search for it in hopes of salvaging the technology. Years later, they've found it at last. They're putting together an expedition to find it.

Red Jewel is actually an underwater seabase the Chinese built before the war. Similar in concept to Big MT, only more militarized and not as advanced, it was a place where biological experiments too dangerous to be near China were performed (and then unleashed on the Americans). Not only was it responsible for smuggling FEV out of country, but it was responsible for the plague that started the FEV project in the first place. Many nasty biological experiments and research projects took place here, some after the bombs fell.

* * *

Author Note:

The Caribbean is a surprisingly sunny and cheerful piece. In part this is because it avoids the bigger island-nations of the Carribean, avoiding the truly nuked-to-hell areas, and unlike Orleans which has a semi-perpetual overcast to deal with, there would be lots of sunny skies and sandy beaches beaches.

While there are a few nods to the ongoing war, this is another DLC pretty far removed from the factions.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

There's no single inspiration for the Caribbean, but the Honest Hearts DLC was a heavy influence in the structure and design. Zion Valley was a beautiful sand box to explore, with interesting pieces of lore and history mixed in with the tribal influences, and those were big carry-overs. There's no actual Caribbean location this is based on, though, but 'Zion valley if traveled by boat' captures the idea.

In terms of ideas, though, Hollywood entered here and there. Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones poppsed up here and there with the local tribals and treasure hunt themes. The Red Jewel itself... there's no single inspiration, but sea colony fiction has been a quiet interest of mine for some time, and it seems well within the capabilities of the Fallout lore.


	42. Factional DLC: Victoria

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional DLC: Victoria

* * *

Factional DLC are DLC intended to explore the Gulf Coast and look at the factions away from the context of the struggle Orleans. While all the DLC are available and are justifiable for any person regardless of reputation alignment, the outcomes can affect your standing with the various factions.

* * *

Faction: Orleans  
Concept: The Colony, Colonialism 'Great Game'  
Location: Victoria, Texas and the Matagorda Bay

BLUF: An Orleans colony on the Texas coast is caught up in the spy rings and influence games of the NCR and Caesar's Legion who wish to see the colony revolt

Genre: Colonialism 'Great Game' spy thriller  
Themes: Multi-way struggle for colonial influence, war between NCR and Caesar's Legion, FO:NV-heavy influences, view of Napoleon and Orleans from abroad

* * *

History Summary:

Before the war, Napoleon established colonies to further the glory and reach of Orleans. On Texas, the combination of geography, relative radiation-security, the weakness of local tribals, and the name itself made Victoria and the Matagorda Bay the spot for Orleans' greatest and furthest colony. While it would never match Orleans, the Matagorda Bay's proximity to many of the major Texan rivers made it ideal for influencing the mouths, and the trade, of the Texas rivers. At its height, one could travel from Orleans to the heart of Caesar's Legion directly, as well as continue sailing through the Pan-Atomic Canal to the NCR. Trade with both of the constantly-warring nations flowed through Victoria, enriching it and Orleans alike.

When the Enclave invaded, many of Orleans and Napoleon's colonies were abandoned or forces withdrawn to help with the war. Victoria was neither: too large to be abandoned, too far for the garrison to be withdrawn. Separated by distance and a distracted mother-country, Victoria was forced into autonomy and the occasional contribution of support, even as all relevant powers looked at it with new eyes. The NCR and Legion have both sent agents and spies to influence the vulnerable colony in their interests, while the Enclave and Blue Waters also have an interest in the failure of the colony.

The better part of a decade later, Victoria is at a turning point as forces of influence collide. The once significant Orleans garrison has withered in the face of years of no supply and volunteers heading to Orleans. A burgeoning independence movement has begun at the instigation of outside powers. The NCR is exploiting corruption and sent rangers with an ambition of establishing a client ally to distract and hinder the Legion to the East. A Legion column is marching South, risking much in bypassing uncivilized cities like the Houston Hellhole but hoping to secure a Legion advance to the coast. And the only hope in favor of Orleans is an ambitious would-be noble who sees Victoria as their path to power.

The Navigator's stake is a contract: part of a 150-person mercenary expedition funded by a trio of ambitious Wasteland merchants who see victory in Victoria as their path to Napleon's favor and a rank of nobility over Victoria. With a mandate to secure Victoria from the Legion column, in fact these would-be nobles are much less united behind Orleans than one would think…

* * *

Current Context:

Victoria initially appears to be a conventional fight and resistance against an approaching Legion column, but in fact the real fighting is in cloak and daggers and influence. The Legion column itself is insufficient to take the settlement by storm: it is actually gunship diplomacy, looking to influence and exploit divisions within Victoria.

And divisions there are, because the city is filled with spies and even the relief expedition is divided. Of the three merchants who came together to fund the expedition, only one of them is even ambivalently intending to support Orleans. Call him the Ambitious: the other two are an NCR Braman Baron and a Legion Frumentari, both hoping to turn the expedition towards being the decisive factor of their own faction. In the city itself, both the Enclave and the Blue Waters have their own agents, and their own preferred outcomes.

The overall area and scope of this campaign is comparable to the Dead Money DLC. Actions occur primarily in the recolonized Victoria, its underground cellars that served as bomb shelters and now as secret meeting places, and the immediate outskirts of the town. Unlike Dead Money, which was a combat-heavy DLC with a constant enemy presence, the cloak-and-dagger narrative is intended to let combat be rare and even completely avoidable.

A very brief sketch of the scenario would be as follows.

The initial phase of arrival and common cause is the Navigator's introductory portion to meet the relevant faces. The merchant sponsors of the expedition, the local garrison commander, and so on. The Navigator is tasked to talk to the Governor, the local noble, to help the expedition get settled in. The first clue that anything is remiss is when, upon departing your contact, the building you were both in blows up. The bombing is based on the independence movement, which has grown more bold in recent months. In lieu of the Governor's assassination, the garrison commander and expedition start martial law. The expedition sponsors task you to investigate who did it, and how they timed it to target you.

Thus starts the conspiracy portion. The independence movement is being supported and stirred up by foreign actors. The sponsors agree that it needs to be dealt with, and task you to find who is supporting them. Each sponsor will suggest you go to a different POC to dig up who is to blame. In the context of the investigation you will be a target, and possibly tool, of the foreign interests in their shadow game. You will uncover an Enclave spy, a Blue Water anarchist, an NCR cell of Rangers intended to raise cain, and Legion Frumentari. The exact sequence of events and pathing is up for people more skilled than I to put together, but an important point is that depending on which investigation paths your pursue, you will find evidence that the bombing was the work of one of the expedition sponsors themselves. Either the Legion or the NCR agent… depending on whether you took the investigative path the other suggested for you.

The ultimate outcome depends on the uninvolved sponsor. A deeply ambitious man and now acting governor, he cares less about ruling the city for Napoleon and more about his own position. He and his mercenaries will be the king maker, and all factions are willing to promise to let him be the local king so long as he's in their pocket. It's up to the player to influence and determine which pocket he will ultimately be in, if any.

When the conspirator(s) in the sponsors are removed, the expedition dominates the city and secures the cooperation of the garrison to secure the colony. The Legion column, if it doesn't enter with inside help, is forced to leave or starve for lack of supplies. The colony goes to the victor by default- an anti-climatic non-battle after a climatic shadow battle.

* * *

Factions and Endings:

Due to its overall neutrality as a mid-way point from West Coast to Gulf Coast, Victoria is a crossroads for anyone with an interest in the greater continent. Even factions with no desire or ability to dictate events have agents here.

The main factions, the one with a chance to take Victoria, are Orleans, the NCR, and Caesar's Legion. There's also a neutrality/independence route.

The Orleans route revolves around digging up the foreign conspiracy and reaffirming the loyalty of the local nobility to Napoleon. With the conspiracy revealed and the garrison and mercenaries allied against the Legion, the Sponsor wins his title of nobility and becomes the new Duke of Victoria. In the long-term, Victoria is a loyal Orleans colony… and if Orleans itself falls, it serves as refuge for Napoleon. The theme of the Orleans victory would be of loyalty and nationalism.

The NCR's ambition is to use the mercenary force as a filibuster to seize Victoria into an NCR client, from which the NCR could send Rangers up the Texas rivers to distract and weaken Caesar's Legion in its ongoing conflict with the NCR. The Braman Baron who is one of the three sponsors intends to leverage the fame and success to propel them into the NCR Senate and towards the Presidency, and is happy to give the Ambitious not only a massive bribe, but governorship of Victoria. The themes of the NCR route would be corruption and self-interest.

The Legion route, which could potentially be fallen into without realizing you are on it, would be for the Frumentari to engineer a riot to distract the garrison and secretly sabotage the defenses so that the Legion army can march straight in. To this end the Frumentari sponsor and his accomplices would present the player with misleading information to push them towards the other conspirators, and attempt to instigate a crisis by provoking the locals against the mercenaries. While the Frumentari would promise to let the Ambitious Sponsor lead the profligates in exchange for his complicity if they are exposed, to them that means enslaving him as well (a punishment for disloyalty) and putting him as a leader of the slaves (fulfilling the bargain). The reward for the mercenaries involved in this is their payment and safe passage away from Victoria. In the Legion's hands, Victoria becomes a quiet little backwater garrison that secures the Legion's expansion efforts into Texas towards the coast, and a staging point for their intended conquest of the Houston Hellhole. The themes of the Legion route are deception and misdirection.

The Independence route is effectively convincing the Ambitious Sponsor to outright take Victoria for him/herself, and not for the benefit of anyone else. This involves siding with the actual independence movement of Victoria, a fervent but small minority when all the outside agitators are removed. The mercenary filibuster takes over, and the Ambitious Sponsor declares themselves King of the colony in order to lead the defense against the treacherous and deceptive outsiders. The victory stands because no one is strong enough to tear him down, but the success is short lived. Whoever ultimately wins in Orleans will eventually bring the independent but weak and small state of Victoria to heel within a decade. The themes of the independence route are selfish ambition and the weakness of being a small group.

The minor groups, those with agents but no real chance of dominating, would be tied to supporting figures in the various conspiracies or movements. Most outside factions have their own 'favored' outcome, but have no real means to force it. The minor groups tend to have motivations or goals that subvert their first expectations.

The Followers of the Apocalypse, in one of their more anarchist well-intentioned wings, is the primary supporter of the independence/neutrality movement. Their well-intended desire is to end the intrigue that is making Victoria a more dangerous place, and they believe declaring independence would do that. Unfortunately, their efforts have largely been hijacked by other conspiracies and groups, to the point that most of the independence movement that the Followers think they lead is actually foreign actors, while some of the actually home-grown independence groups have gone towards bomb-throwing anarchists. Even should they 'win' in their efforts against all the other factions, the role they played in overthrowing the government leads to a major reputation hit as governments across the wasteland look at the Followers with suspicion and launch their own crackdowns on the anarchist agency.

The Blue Waters have a counterintuitive plan for Victoria- they support the NCR's desire to make it a client state. While the NCR offer a rationalization that an ally in Victoria would weaken the Blue Waters, letting the NCR push against the Pan-Atomic Canal from West and East, the Blue Waters have a different assessment. In their view, letting the NCR form a commitment to Victoria would give the Blue Waters more leverage over the NCR in their own disputes with the country: the Blue Waters can threaten to blockade or harass shipping, and make the NCR's influence untenable by exploiting overreach. This could be leveraged against the NCR, especially if the Braman Baron rises to power with their help, to block any NCR shipbuilding programs.

The Enclave, the most high-technology faction in the Wasteland, is the only deliberate supporter of the Legion's efforts to take over the city. There's no romanticism or sentimentality or any sort of idealism at play: only a very cold assessment that the Legion poses the least threat to the Enclave. In a case of mutual dislike and dismissal, the two terrors of the wasteland both view each other as weak and contemptable and thus useful tools: the Enclave views the Legion as backwards and primitive and doesn't believe they would be a credible military threat, while the Legion thinks the Enclave is fatally corrupt and soft from a dependence on technology, and thus would be beaten in a future conflict. Both are willing to help the other in their own conquests, confident in the self-assurance that if/when a conflict comes they will be the unquestioned winner.

* * *

Endings:

Three main factions provide four main victories: Orleans, Legion, NCR-client, and Independence. Each has their own ties to the Orleans conflict as well, depending on victor and main game epilogue.

The Orleans victory, no surprises here, gets you the greatest approval from Orleans. Victoria remains in the control of Orleans, and thanks to its fresh stability it is able to send much-needed aid back to Napoleon. With re-affirmed control of the Texas rivers, and with the threat of the Legion passed, Victoria remains an Orleans colony with a new Duke.

If Orleans wins the War in Orleans, Victoria is its biggest colony and helps it re-establish its maritime dominance. If Orleans loses the war in Orleans, Victoria becomes the capital of the Orleans Empire in exile when Napoleon flees there, a persistent if minor power.

In the NCR-client ending, Victoria becomes independent of Orleans but dependent on NCR. Due to its NCR leanings Victoria is under constant threat from the Legion, and under embargo/blockade from Orleans no matter the victor. The NCR, however, benefits from secure access to the Gulf Coast… and the Blue Waters profit heavily from their trade monopoly. The Braman Baron becomes a rising power in the NCR Senate, while the Ambitious Sponsor becomes the NCR-backed Governor.

Independence is a short-lived success. The Ambitious Sponsor is the ruler, but Vitoria is too small and weak to be its own regional power. With the Anarchist Followers of the Apocalypse unable and unwilling to provide much support, Victoria would fall back under the influence of the city of Orleans within a decade.

In the Legion victory, the only winner but the Legion is the Enclave. Victoria is sacked, the NCR-Orleans trade route severed, and the Blue Waters driven from the area by the full brutality of Legion order. The Legion, with no experience or interest as a maritime power, turns the port into a garrisoned back water, a place of little trade and no maritime power. The Enclave trades basic supplies with the Legion… and leverages their technology to easily 'liberate' the city if they win in Orleans, welcomed as liberators even as the Legion is too tied down in the West to return its focus to the Gulf Coast.

* * *

Concepts of Note:

This DLC is heavy on New Vegas carry-overs, yes, but also Orleans imperialism.

In terms of New Vegas, this is the expansion/carry-over opportunity: change dialogue and elaborate the nature of the post-Vegas conflict between the two since then. Is the NCR on its back, trying to survive through Gulf Trade? Is the Legion too weak to win, too big to kill, and seeking Victoria as a rallying victory? Are both struggling to the death while Vegas burns on?

FO:NV Cameos and references should go here, if anywhere.

The faction of this DLC is Orleans, obviously. This is a glimpse of a non-glorified Orleans: one still the victim, in the face of the Legion, but also the victimizer. An independence movement that hasn't been assimilated, and the difference in impression between the Orleans of old and the Orleans of Napoleon. In Orleans, the struggle is Enclave vs. Orleans with no real alternative, but here there is an alternative.

Orleans flaws, as well as its virtues and relative merit versus others, can be explored here.

* * *

Weaknesses of Note:

I'll readily admit that this idea is possibly too broad for a DLC, with a vague and completely unmapped conspiracy. It's also perhaps a bit too similar to the main game: 'multiple factions at war, you choose the winner' can only go on so many ways so many times.

It might need to be pared down more than it already was, so it can be simplified and size-appropriate. You have to be careful, lest you create an entire separate game. While having foreign actors and agitators is interesting, the first main route/ending to be cut should be the Legion's, then the Independence route. If those two were cut, the DLC could become a colony conflict between the always expansionist NCR and the distracted Orleans, an indicator of future conflicts to come.

* * *

Geography Summary

Victoria/Texas

The settlement of Victoria is one of Napoleon's largest, and furthest, colonies. Located on an exceptionally habitable stretch of Texas coast, Napoleon intended to use it as a claim to the Hudson River, which could trade with the Legion, and as a springboard for an intended pacification and conquest of Houston. Then the war happened, and Victoria had to hold its own.

Now Victoria, too far away to matter, is uncertain. The locals aren't too friendly. The settlers are a bit resentful for being deserted. The Legion's eastern advance is increasingly uncomfortable. And the NCR is interested in leveraging the situation for its own advantage. Who knows how it will turn out?

* * *

Author Note:

This is one of those ideas that would certainly get a lot of adjustment and recalibration were it actually put into a video game. The Victoria scenario was a constant fight against feature creep, as the idea of more players and more sub-factions were endless. At times it almost felt like I was trying to make an abridged version of FNV.

I tried to get away from the 'climatic battle' trap by moving from open warfare to espionage, but I'm not that good at writing out an outline for an espionage thriller. Still, I imaging that Victoria would probably be the shortest DLC in terms of area and combat, but perhaps one of the most divergent in terms of dialogue paths and outcomes.

Definitely imperfect, but good enough for the purpose of this idea sketch.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Diplomatically, Orleans is known but a distant foreign power for pretty much everyone else in the Wasteland. Thanks to the buffer space of the Bayou, pretty much all contacts with other nations are by sea, and that means by the Blue Waters. I imagine that the Wasteland is still a largely divided and empty area, with great expanses of unclaimed and uncivilized spaces between consolidated societies, so unless you live right next to another empire most foreign powers might as well be on the other side of the moon.

The NCR's involvement with Orleans would basically amount to awareness and acknowledgement that they exist, and not much more. To the Legion, even less- a potential future conquest of the Eastern Legion as it continues to expand, but that is as much a fuzzy idea as any real intent past the Legion's general world conquest ideology.


	43. Factional DLC: Pan-Atomic Canal

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional DLC: Pan-Atomic Canal

* * *

Factional DLC are DLC intended to explore the Gulf Coast and look at the factions away from the context of the struggle Orleans. While all the DLC are available and are justifiable for any person regardless of reputation alignment, the outcomes can affect your standing with the various factions.

* * *

The Pan-Atomic Canal

Faction: Blue Water Pirates  
Concept: Operation Plowshare and the Nicaragua Canal  
Location: Nicaragua, at a Canal that connects both East and West in a jungle environment. (Alternatively, a super-canal across the Southern United States/Mexico, dug using atomic bombs before the war.)  
BLUF: The Blue Water pirates are controlling the ocean trade on both sides of North America, and do so by controlling the Pan-Atomic Canal that links the two oceans. They aren't the only ones interested in the land, however: a kingdom has risen along the Isthmus, and is trying to drive the Blue Waters out.  
Genre: Whatever Dancing With Wolves was  
Themes: Tribal insurgency, corporate colonialism, Neo-Aztec Empire, Jungle War, Proto-Industrialization

* * *

History Summary:

Operation Plowshare was a real-life proposal to expand the Panama Canal and even start on a Nicaragua Canal by means of atomic bombs. In the nuclear-crazed Fallout universe, this concept was carried out. The Pan-Atomic Canal was created before the war as a major water way linking Atlantic to Pacific.

Though the Great War saw it closed due to debris, the Blue Water Pirates invested a great deal of money, manpower, and salvaged nuclear devices to re-open the Pan-Atomic Canal… and have since then maintained a significant military presence on the canal, securing their monopoly of Atlantic-Pacific trade.

A rising tribal-nation, however, is challenging them for control: a post-Mexican, Aztec-themed tribe is attempting to take control of the canal, and the trade routes, to secure their own legacy and development. Captain Supermutant, tired of the tribal distraction, is making last entreaties for peace while gathering a force to raid the tribal center and exterminate the guerillas… even as the NCR, tired of the Blue Water monopoly, is sending supplies and insurgents to support the Aztecs.

* * *

Current Context:

The Navigator is considered hired muscle or even a negotiator for the last-ditch diplomacy effort between the Blue Waters and the Aztec tribals. The Blue Waters make monetary offers to try and buy the Tribals off: the Tribals are unwilling to accept. Conflict is imminent… but as it approaches, you yourself realize that the tribals are not as simple-minded or incapable as you might have thought, and uncover a secret that could give victory to the tribals.

This DLC plays much like Honest Hearts, in that there is a linear series of quests leading to a divergent finale. In this case, you start with a mostly linear questline, but as you explore and progress you reach a point where you can defect to the tribals. Regardless, you end up settling who occupies the Canal.

There are three main forces at work in this area: the Blue Waters, the Tribals, and the NCR. The Blue Waters in this context are the commercial-colonial imperialists, occupying the strategic waterways in order to charge tolls and preserve their own use, and looking at the primitive tribals with disdain. The Tribals are of a rapidly-consolidating tribe/proto-state, generally with an Aztec/Meso-American theme. The NCR is the foreign-provocateur, with NCR rangers aiding and training the natives into a capable force, with the ultimate goal of breaking the Blue Water's monopoly of Pacific-Atlantic trade and replacing it with one more friendly to the NCR's interests.

In these factions there are distinct themes and sub-factions.

The Blue Waters are, in a word, imperialists. Their sub-factions are more of the personalities of note within the spectrum: you have the sneering imperialists who look down on the 'backwards' tribals, you have the White Man's Burden (non-white character) who sees their presence as a civilizing one. You have the commercialists who are just in it for the money. You see various people with differing attitudes: some want to wipe out the tribals, others want to make a peaceful deal with them. The Blue Water portions of the map are 'civilized', with intact buildings, working power, employment, and even cleanliness… except for the workers, the soldiers, the brothels, and everything not in open sight. Every brand, virtue, and vice of imperialism is valid here.

The neo-Aztecs are the natives, out-tech and out-gunned. Their leader is an ambitious expansionist: he wants the entire Canal for his own, so that the tribe can grow rich and powerful in its own right. There are other views as well: people who want to be rich off the canal, but don't insist on owning it and are open to Blue Water payments. People who don't care about the Canal or money, but want to drive out the foreigners. Those who don't care about pride or possession, but simply want peace no matter the price (or lack of price). Those who think they can't fight now, and that doing so is suicide. Likewise every virtue, and more importantly the vices, of the tribal life is here: it is not intrinsically more peaceful, more sustaining, or more wise than the colonizers, and it is not overly romanticized.

The third group, the NCR, is the foreign meddlers. NCR special forces/Rangers are committed to advancing their country's interests… and right now, that means support for the Aztec militants. The NCR is training Aztecs, but also subtly de-legitimizing and marginalizing the pro-peace Aztecs. The NCR is pro-Aztec, but anti-peace: they wish to subvert any peace attempts that serves the Blue Water interests. The NCR is the typical foreign self-interested benevolent meddler, in it for their interests which they cast as moral, but not prioritizing the desires of the locals above their own interests.

* * *

Endings:

As the climax approaches, the Navigator uncovers the Aztec plan to beat the Blue Waters: detonate a salvaged nuclear device at the Blue Water base, wiping out the Blue Water garrison. The Blue Waters, thus crippled, will be unable to survive and last against the tribals in the jungle. This is planned to occur if/when 11th hour negotiations fail.

The Navigator has three main options: side with the Blue Waters, side with the Tribals, or broker a successful negotiation. Variances exist between them, but those are the three main outcomes.

Siding with the Blue Waters means alerting them to the threat and leading a force to deal with it, even though it will ruin the negotiations. The Blue Waters will easily overrun the Tribal Camp, stop the bomb, and destroy the fledgling nation. What follows is affected by the player, and the player's effects on the Blue Water garrison: the entire tribe can be killed to the last person (Extermination), the survivors can be spared but enslaved (Slavery), or the adults can be killed but the surviving children can be taken in, adopted and brought up within the Blue Waters (Assimilation). These are not explicit choices the player chooses, but the possible outcomes decided upon by those the player affected earlier in the quest.

Obviously, siding with the Blue Waters earns Blue Water approval back home at Orleans.

Siding with the Tribals means helping them with the operation. You break in, smuggle the bomb within the base, and get out before the meeting: at the meeting, when the negotiations formally break down, the Tribal Chief makes a dramatic gesture and the bomb explodes on cue. The Aztecs take control of the Canal, and the new harbor they just created. The variances mainly focus on what they do with the surviving Blue Waters: the surviving Blue Waters can either be Exterminated, treated for injuries and escorted out, or even be adopted in reverse and brought into the tribe. Going forward the Blue Waters still manage to sail through the canal, but they sometimes they have to fight their way through and they no longer enjoy a monopoly on transit rights.

For obvious reasons, this route earns Blue Water disapproval… but Orleans and Enclave approval for bringing down the Blue Waters a peg.

Achieving peace is the hardest, and most specific requirements: you have to support the right people, remove some obstructions to peace, and basically pack the negotiations with the right people at the right time. Failure at the negotiations leads to one of the first two outcomes: either you let the Aztecs smuggle in the bomb, or your prevention of it allows the Blue Water massacre to commence.

Peace via negotiation comes in the form of balancing Blue Water access through the Canal with Aztec ownership of the land around it. In the Blue Water proposal, the Aztecs organize themselves as a corporation and join the Monopoly: the Blue Waters formally own the land of the Canal, and so can't be kept out or prevented from crossing, but in exchange the Aztecs can collect property taxes and collect the transit fees and so profit significantly from the Blue Water presence. Less territorial ownership, more profit. The tribal proposal, focusing more on preserving their way of life and ownership, is a treaty agreement: the Aztecs are the sole owners of the land, but the Blue Waters get unrestricted and free transit through the passage. The Blue Water settlement is temporarily leased as a treaty port for 50 years with opportunity for renewal, limited in size and fortune compared to the alternative but able to serve as a stopover for Blue Waters. More territorial control, but less profit.

The final piece about Peace is that the NCR is against it: your final fight isn't against Tribals or Pirates, but against NCR rangers looking to ruin the negotiations.

* * *

Concepts of Note:

This is another imperialism DLC, of natives vs. occupiers. While imperialism is a big theme of all of Fallout: Orleans, the distinctions are what matter. In the main game, it was a contest of three different factions more or less seeking to colonize the Bayou and make the people there more like themselves: Orleans had succeeded in assimilation, the Enclave is in the process of it, and the Blue Waters might yet (if conditions are right). In the Victoria scenario, the issue was of a colony seeking independence and the great game of colonialism and expansionist interests.

The Canal DLC is imperialism of a different sort: commercial-territorial colonialism against a non-assimilated indigenous population that still lives there. It also appeals to other themes of colonialism: the burden of 'civilizing' an area, the disparity of quality of life between civilization and tribalism, and the radicalism and disgust that can perpetrate on both sides.

Of course, the proto-nationalism that occurs is another big deal: we see yet another tribe-state appealing to history in order to justify themselves and claim legitimacy, the effects of Caesar's Legion perpetrating themselves across the Wasteland. Which only makes the NCR's support more ironic, as they support a wannabe-Caesar trying to set up his own city-state empire.

This is a DLC that has an environment structured like Zion Valley, but a narrative that is focused in the present, not the pre-war past. While the Canal Zone is split into areas, colonizer and tribal, the emphasis isn't on the past (unlike the Caribbean) and far more about the present and future. As colonialism was always about, this DLC storyline is about starting new societies in a new world, and moving past the past.

The NCR gets another interference-role again: another case of them being a liberal democracy at home, but self-interested abroad. A similar motivation to Victoria seems a sensible pattern for them: the NCR seeks to create and support allies friendly to it, especially when they weaken a rival or adversary. At Victoria, that meant stopping trade to Caesar's Legion, their enemy. Here it means breaking the naval monopoly of the Blue Waters.

While the NCR isn't the 'bad' guy, it's also important to note they aren't the good guys either. They back sympathetic causes, yes, but they do it for selfish and self-interested reasons. They aren't out for the 'best possible' results: they're out for the best results for themselves. That's why NCR Rangers can be on your side one way, and trying to kill you the next.

(On the plus side, you get to kill them and take their stuff. Iconic Ranger gear just looks great.)

* * *

Weaknesses of Note:

Over-complicated politics within the Blue Waters and Tribals. While the overall setup is smooth and compact (arrive, investigate, discover, decide, finale), the idea of sub-factions may be too complex to reflect. Simply having representative characters, rather than factions, is likely a necessity… but how to influence the outcomes becomes a question in and of itself. The subfactions and outcomes would likely need to be narrowed down some, and possibly represented by individuals rather than being actual factions themselves.

Side quests to help determine the 'outcome' of negotiations as well as the victory-outcomes would be a solution, but you'd have to work hard to avoid over-cluttering or the inverse, over-simplifying. An example would be a White Man's Burden missionary for the Blue Waters: she might be a force for peace, and a target of NCR assassination. A player going for a pro-Aztec run mission kill her… but if she dies, a Blue Water victory leans towards extermination due to incited hatred. If you save her, however, more of an Assimilation slant.

Another weakness of the DLC is an over-use of the colonialism theme. While Fallout: Orleans does have a heavy maritime-trade/rise-of-empires theme, you don't need every DLC to be about that. Fallout: Vegas was a war, and yet only one of the DLC (Honest Hearts) really came close to reflecting a game-relevant faction (the White Legs and Caesar's Legion).

* * *

Geography Summary

Pan-Atomic Canal

Before/during the Great War, the United States decided they needed a bigger Panama canal to move troops and ships from one side to the other. Since expanding the Panama canal and building new locks would take too long and cost too much, they used nukes to blow one through Nicaragua. Permission may or may not have been negotiated in good faith. Regardless, when the bombs fell and the Panama locks were destroyed, the Pan-Atomic Canal was the only link left.

The Blue Waters, seeking to expand their presence, occupied the land and cleared the channel. They currently control it with an iron fist, and have used it to trade as far north as the NCR and as far south as Chile. It is the primary reason any news of the NCR or West Coast reaches Orleans. It is also one of the only permanent continental presences the Blue Waters have, and one of the only they will fight to keep.

* * *

Author Note:

What's there to say? Honest Hearts with colonialism instead of religion, and more talking between the two sides.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Pan-Atomic Canal is a preview of things to come. While the Blue Waters are feeding and profiting off of the Orleans conflict, once they are free from it their expansion phase will begin in earnest. While much of it will be focused on the Caribbean, a small nucleus of sea-worthy vessels will begin going east and west, seizing the sea lanes of the future and claiming all the valuable and feasible islands they can as they spread the monopoly. Some islands, like the British Isles and Australia, may be too big and populated to be attempted. Others may not be valuable enough to bother. But those that are, those that already have inhabitants... they'd be treated much like the PAC. Rich captains buying off or buying out (peacefully or otherwise) prime slices of real-estate from which to dominate the local sea trade. Locals can join the colonizer, of find themselves colonized.

The Blue Waters are unique in that nothing you do in the campaign of Fallout: Orleans can reverse or prevent their rise. Orleans is a prelude of what's to come when they really start expanding, with Orleans itself being both the proving grounds for the Blue Waters model of low-cost/high-profit interventions and influence for the Blue Waters. Captain Supermutant has plans for expansion and establishment of the Blue Waters maritime empire, and they go something like this.

In the short term (five-ten years), the first area of focus will be the Caribbean- relatively easy with the Cure and the established monopoly. The Caribbean Basin will be the home base of the Blue Waters, the unmarchable home port. The Blue Water strategic priorities for their Caribbean dominance include keeping access to the Pacific (preferably by the Pan-Atomic Canal) and keeping Orleans weak as a maritime power (by using the influence of the monopoly and controling sea trade).

During the consolidation phase, a small fleet of sea-worthy ships will begin sailing East and West as part of the exploration phase. Built up in the shipyard or salvaged from other sources, these ocean-worthy vessels will seek out and claim small but strategic bases as they explore the oceans to try and map out the world. Islands like the Falklands, or the Rock of Gibralter, will be claimed to serve as future staging grounds for trade and expansion and building an understanding of the new world. The Blue Waters will identify the various dynamics of the Wasteland, try to see if there are any rising powers that could interfere with their efforts, and start picking out the next expansion phase. Without picking fights they can't win, the Blue Waters will begin to insert their corporate/trading influences and establishing themselves as the sole ocean-trading monopoly: buying out or stealing any ocean-worthy vessel and force they come aross if possible. If they Blue Waters can't control it, they will at least seek access.

As the Monopoly consolidates into a real maritime power, some small islands would be the test runs for their future ability to expand the monopoly. The Atlantic islands, the Pacific Ring of Fire, but most notably places on the scale of Hawaii would be targets for outright annexation and incorporation.

In the medium term (15-20 years), the second expansion phase would likely be ready to begin. This phase would be to start exporting the Monopoly's, well, monopoly, into a new strategic region. Seeking a second Cuba, in effect, the Blue Water Monopoly would seek to take control of an entire major island to serve as a regional base for naval and maritime influence. Conquest is expected, and potentially long and difficult as well. Based on the results of the exploration phase, the Blue Waters would pick a strategic maritime region with the least regional power centers and work to enforce a regional water monopoly like they have in the Caribbean. This target could be Madagascar, or Sri Lanka, or the islands of the Mediterranean like Sicily. The real holy grail of the Blue Water expansion, however, and the reason they really want the Pan-Atomic Canal, would be the Southeast Pacific. Islands like Taiwain, or chains like the Philippines. If the Blue Waters were able to break into the Indonesian Island chains, they would gleefully exploit divisions and divert their pirates to play havoc in order to incorporate the entire region as a power base.

In the long term (50+ years), the Blue Waters would aim to dominate most of the strategic but small islands in the world. Even without the ability to enforce a regional monopoly, islands like Sicily would be viewed as the staging grounds to manage and trade with mainland powers. The mercantile wing of the Blue Waters would be more conciliatory towards established powers in a quid-pro-quo way: the Blue Waters will leave the mainland to you, if you leave the islands and seas to them.

Eventually, of course, the rise of mainland powers and competing interests will see the Blue Water expansion checked. A total maritime monopoly can not be enforced everywhere, even if you have a submarine dreadnaught able to raze any pesky coastal city that challenges you. But that's alright- the point of the Blue Waters is to expand as much as possible across the seas, so that when trade does re-establish itself they will be best placed to direct and profit from it.

Or so goes the narrative logic of Captain Supermutant and his like-minded supporters, one of whom would helpfully share such plans with you in this DLC.


	44. Factional DLC: Journey for Atlantis

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Factional DLC: Journey for Atlantis

* * *

Factional DLC are DLC intended to explore the Gulf Coast and look at the factions away from the context of the struggle Orleans. While all the DLC are available and are justifiable for any person regardless of reputation alignment, the outcomes can affect your standing with the various factions.

* * *

Faction: Enclave  
Concept: Journey to Atlantis, Enclave/Enclave Marine Secret History  
Location: Underwater caves, secret sea colony somewhere in the Puerto Rico Trench

BLUF: Enclave Marines are organizing a secret, dangerous expedition to find a lost undersea colony where the pre-war conspiracy was attempting to build a colonization space ship.

Themes: Journey to Myth, Underwater, Space, and the difference between Marines and Explorers

History Summary:

Note that this backstory would be developed during the DLC, rather than being known beforehand.

It has already been established that the Vaults were never meant to save anyone. It is frequently forgotten, however, why that was- the Vaults were laboratories to figure out how people would act in closed environments with various stimuli, in preparation for the pre-Enclave Conspiracy's intent to launch a space ship to escape the Earth and later recolonize the planet. An Arc, if you will.

The Arc was intended to be the first ship for interplanetary colonization, able to fly through space and yet land in alien seas as needed. Intended for unfathomable pressures as needed, it was built in an undersea colony that was also a test bed for the colonization technologies that were expected to be needed. The colony, called Atlantis, was hidden in the depths of the Puerto Rico Trench, where it was staffed by the most trusted of engineers and guarded by the most loyal of soldiers, hand-picked marines who were intended to be the ship's armed compliment once it launched. These Marines, and their stateside compliment waiting for the Arc to be finished, were the predecessors of the Enclave Marines.

When the Nuclear Holocaust occurred and the Enclave went into hiding, Atlantis was lost as well. Assumed destroyed and soon forgotten by the few who knew it was ever real, Atlantis was little more than a myth amongst the Caribbean Isles, less credible than the Red Jewel.

Except… Atlantis wasn't destroyed. A floating colony that drifted with the ocean currents, it survived its attempted destruction by unknown attackers, devastated but intact. The few Marine survivors aboard managed to get a message to their counterparts in the Marine Bunker: Atlantis sleeps, awaiting the return of Uncle Sam.

Hundreds of years later, when a young Lieutenant Sam Hans was brought to the Marine Bunker, he found more than just a new, untapped military force to bolster the Enclave's losses: he found evidence that Atlantis still slumbered, and the Arc inside still intact. This knowledge, and the marine force behind it, were the keys to winning allies to overlook the heresy of the tribal, 'genetic non-compliant' Marines in the Enclave forces- a duplicity that, were it proven, would ruin Hans.

Current Context

Hans and the Enclave have been wanting to reach Atlantis for some time: they just lacked the means to do so, submarines being in very short supply. Until recently, that is, when the Enclave secretly (and at great cost) procured one with the help of the Blue Waters. Or rather, the Blue Waters procured one… and the Enclave is forced to rely on them if they want to have any hope of reaching their secret destination.

The ground-breaking expeditions have been costly and slow, and very dangerous, but the groundwork has been set. Now the Enclave is quietly backing this dangerous and foolhardy expedition for a lost city of myth, and hiring only the most capable and foolhardy of mercenaries to support it. Once you, the Navigator, sign on, the expedition group is ready to proceed.

Journey

The story would be a largely linear affair of non-returnable areas- most like the Operation Anchorage simulation. Only instead of a simulated war story, the underwater exploration would channel the spirit of 'Atlantis the Lost Empire' and '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.' First in visiting areas that previous expeditions have reached, and then breaking new ground.

The journey would have three main phases: Undersea Caverns, Atlantis, and the Arc.

The Undersea Caverns are just that- caves (with air pockets) under the sea at various unnamed Caribbean islands. A mix of pre-war secret submarine stations and natural caverns, these caverns serve as staging grounds for the expedition- supplies have been stockpiled and preparations made to enable the submarine to reach Atlantis. Various sea-mutantss and sea monsters make these caverns dangerous.

Atlantis is a pre-war sea colony, though it's closer to call it a floating dockyard. Rather than being built on the sea floor and being stationary, it is actually built into a massive hollowed-out chunk of rock that has been made buoyant. Resembling an asteroid base, complete sea-domes on the top and a sealed docking port where the Arc was being constructed and supplies would be delivered, in the darkness of the Puerto Rico trench it looks more like a space base than a sea base. The expedition must access Atlantis to reach the Arc inside, but this will be difficult due to damage and beasts inside. More of the sea-mutants

The Arc, the space ship in question, looks as comfortable being a submarine as a space ship. Intact though incomplete, the Arc and its dock are Fallout-style futuristic, high-tech, and unrealized potential: plasma thrusters, the latest of experimental technology including the Sierra Madre vendors, and a mix of space and sea-based technology that was intended to finish and maintain the Arc. While its original inhabitants are dead, its security systems (robotic and otherwise) are as function as the rest of the ship- unfortunate, since you will need the Arc to escape Atlantis.

The story would focus on the expedition's growing difficulties and internal friction as the truth of the expedition, its backers in the Enclave, and the threat of internal sabotage of the mission.

The scenario has two main factions: the Enclave and the Crew.

The Enclave are the nominal leaders of the expedition, and the military force. Represented by the Marine Commander (a grizzled veteran who is hard but fair, and is sympathetic towards the crew) and the Enclave Purist (the more xenophobic/selfish side of the Enclave that would kill the Crew to preserve the technology solely for the Enclave), their status as the Enclave is initially a secret that comes out early. The Marines, the soldiers brought aboard, make this the 'strength' of the expedition. Their goal is to claim the Arc and Atlantis for the Enclave, and no one else.

The Crew are the miscellaneous people head-hunted and recruited to support the mission. Represented by the Captain, a dashing rouge archetype who would be a better dashing pirate if he weren't on a Blue Waters black list, and the Seaman, a blue-collar type of worker who despises the Enclave. Mercenaries, specialists, and treasure hunters, they are the flexibility of the operation. Some are Blue Waters, others are simply wastelanders- their recruitment was a necessity of hiring the Submarine from the Blue Waters and keeping the expedition a relative secret and not an obvious Enclave effort. The Crew's goal is to profit from this expedition and be free: some like the idea of claiming Atlantis as a home of their own and some just want to screw over the Enclave leadership, with whom there has been friction over methods and goals.

The main personal conflict is that someone is trying to sabotage the expedition, which could kill everyone. Both sides blame each other, but in truth both sides are to blame: both the Enclave Purist and the Seaman are trying to kill off the other faction. The Enclave Purist to deny non-Enclave people access to the Arc and Atlantis tech, and the Seaman out of a hatred and secret job to sabotage the Enclave's efforts. Ultimately, in the face of these internal saboteurs and dangers of the expedition, the rest of the Crew and Enclave will have to work together in order to survive.

Scenario

The general scenario of events would be as occurs.

In the start phase, in the City of Orleans at a Blue Waters establishment you would find the recruiter for the expedition. Needing someone with special skills to help the expedition, the recruiter would challenge the player to justify themselves: various skill checks would be offered, and so long as the player can pass just one moderate check in one category they would be good to go. The player is recruited, and joins the Crew and the Marines in the Submarine.

Phase One, the Underwater Caverns, is the stopping at a staging ground. Here we can get backstory and lore from some of the previous expedition attempts, the people who set the stage for the expedition and who recount the dangers to be seen ahead. Between foreshadowing and learning of the history of these pre-war submarine docks, we also receive our first evidence of treachery: someone sabotages something, and only by exploring the local caverns and beating some of the beasts that live so far below are we able to resume the task.

In Phase Two, Atlantis, we reach our destination of the floating sea colony of Atlantis. Looking like an asteroid base, Atlantis has underwater domes on its 'top', and the destruction of these is the evidence of an attempted nuclear destruction of Atlantis during the holocaust. This damage also makes our best avenue of access into the base, however, and so down we go via diving suits. From the lore fragments here we get a glimpse at the pre-Enclave conspiracy's base of engineering operations, for good and ill. The Enclave Marines stationed here, as well as the civilian contractors and engineers, survived the apocalypse despite an attempted nuclear attack, but eventually degenerated into sea-mutants- the ghost people of the deep. With the mutated descendants of the pre-holocaust population having made the entire city into a sea-mutant kingdom of sorts, the Navigator must overcome both them and yet more sabotage to get through the city/sea base and reach the docks where the Arc is waiting. Reaching it will require some upgrades, including unique perks (pre-war implants and enhancements) to be able to pass off as either the Arc's space-fated crew or maritime work force.

In Phase Three, we reach, activate, and secure the Arc. Breaking into the Arc will require a deep water exoskeleton 'space walk' on the outside of the hull, as well as overcoming locked doors, guard robots, and other security measures. By the time we reach it, things are desperate- the sea-mutants of Atlantis threaten to overrun the expedition, and treachery has destroyed the submarine we arrived on. Reactivating the Arc, fit for sea travel if not space travel, is the only option of escape left to us. If only the Seaman's mutiny, and the Purist's attempts to kill the non-Enclave witnesses, didn't obstruct us.

Ultimately the Crew and the Marines work together and help eachother escape to safety. Only one can claim the ship, though, and depending on who you side with the other finds themselves leaving Atlantis via lifeboat/escape pods towed by the Arc, rather than in control of the Arc itself. The final owners of the Arc leave you and the rest of the losers on the shores of Orleans with your loot, before taking the Arc back into the sea. Atlantis is lost again, but the Arc sails.

Rewards and Loot

While all DLC would have their own unique gear, the loot of Atlantis ties into the main themes of the DLC: deep sea and space exploration. The pinnacle rewards of the DLC would be a balance of unique gear and power armor, distinct perks, and specialty power armor accompanied by uniformly useful power armor training.

The submariner-themed gear plays to the classic 'underwater sci-fi' genre: pressures suits for ocean, not space, and spear guns rather than lasers. Aesthetically it would be bulky and round with darker yellow and brown tones, evoking simple strength and endurance. Submariner-themed gear would include spears (and spear guns), diving equipment, nets and tridents, and some pre-war Navy uniforms including Marine Dress uniform. And, of course, a diving suit: Big Daddy caliber, obviously.

At the point at which the Navigator must get implants in order to sneak past security screening to get upon the Arc, the submariner path (associated with the Crew) is to get implants from the underwater construction workers. Meant to help workers move and work effectively under the great sea pressures, the implants would have physical-related bonuses: SPECIAL bonuses to strength and endurance, damage tolerance increase, and so on.

The submariner-themed unique power armor would be an underwater construction exoskeleton. Clearly civilian in design and intent, it would be blocky, stocky, and even have yellow and black warning stripes found on construction equipment. It wouldn't be very dexterous or provide radiation resistance, but for something designed to work at 20,000 leagues under the sea it would be really, really tough: extremely high damage tolerance, and a bonus against melee damage. For the spacewalk/seawalk and any 'zero g' movement through the water, the typical power armor ventilator fan would be more of a propeller to provide movement.

The space-themed gear plays to more traditional space sci-fi genre: bold colors, flashy lights, and a sleek and smooth space age aesthetic. A balance between the more innocent pre-apocalypse energy weapon technology level and the later, more sinister Enclave aesthetic. This is governmental and professional, but in a way idealistic and about the journey into space- as much Star Trek as earlier sci-fi. Variants on previous space-themed energy weapons and gears (pistols, space suits) would be meshed with the space explorer/colonist identity. Colonist suits would be similar to Vault suits- extremely utilitarian. Ship crew, however, would have a heavy Star Trek influence: crew uniforms based on star trek uniforms, and the unique 'phaser' energy pistols that look like phasers. The basic phaser, a laser weapon. The 'Set to Kill,' a unique phaser that is a plasma equivalent but with a much faster-traveling plasma shot. The 'Set to Stun,' a laser with low power but high chance to paralyze enemies.

At the point at which the Navigator must get implants in order to sneak past security screening to get upon the Arc, the spacer path (associated with the Enclave) is to get spacer implants from the intended crew of the Arc. Meant to help the workers function quickly and safely in the zero-g environments, the implants would have mobility-related bonuses: SPECIAL bonuses to speed and dexterity, radiation resistance increase, and so on.

The space-themed unique power armor would be Space Marine Power Armor. Exactly what it says on the tin, this was power armor intended for the Marine security detachment for the Arc, capable of both fighting and surviving in zero g as a space suit. A space-themed take on the Marine Power Armor, it trades some of the classic power armor stockiness for dexterity and mobility. It would have notably less armor than the submariner exo-skeleton (and even less than other power armors), but in exchange it would have an exceptional variety of other bonuses: exceptionally high radiation resistance, and likely the only power armor to increase not only strength but also dexterity and agility as well. For the spacewalk/seawalk and any 'zero g' movement through water, plasma-thruster 'jet pak' motors would ignite to give the impression of a space suit thruster.

Concepts of Note:

Atlantis has a major thematic intent of comparing and contrasting sea and space travel. Submarines and space ships have similar contexts, being enclosed structures traveling for prolonged periods of time through dangerous environments that people can only survive with extreme preparation. Despite this, there are different intents and possibilities open to them. Submarines are reclusive, secretive, and inherently limited in what they can explore and develop. They tend to be government-aligned, and their journeys typically revolve around returning to the same places they left after hiding for prolonged periods. Space ships, however, are the unlimited final frontier: exploration and discovery, and without the limits of a single planet as they travel through the stars in the next voyage. Free spirited and unrestrained, space exploration is the place for visionaries.

These would tie into the differences between the Crew and the Enclave recovery effort. While the Enclave nominally wants the Arc back to study and reclaim its lost space technology, thematically the Enclave is associated with the submarine mentality. Their vision for the Arc ultimately comes down to using it as a submarine reserve base, a new maritime bunker for the Marines to use as a second home and mobile base. The Crew and its leader, while associated with the Blue Water submarine that starts the journey, are fare closer aligned to the idea of the spacer. These are people who would use the Arc not as a hidden base but as a vehicle for exploration, sailing the seas to meet new groups and make ties with them. They are far closer to the idea of exploration and freedom associated with the space travel.

The DLC narrative would undergo a gradual transition in focus as the story progresses. Starting with the submariner theme of the Journey for Atlantis, as the player gets closer to Atlantis the more space-themes begin to take over. We go from underwater caves to a flooded sea colony that looks like a space colony to a space ship, working the differences gradually. The resolution of the DLC, of claiming the Arc for the marines or the crew, would be done in a thematically appropriate manner.

Weaknesses of Note:

The idea of using the ocean depths as a medium for space is appealing, but hard to describe and could be hard to translate. While the idea of using bioluminescent fish in the deep as the 'stars' for the floating colony is a good concept, it would be harder to pull of. So would the high cost/low benefit work to make sea beasts just for this adventure.

Another weakness of this is a possible over-selling of the pre-war technology and the colonization project. Fallout lore is already littered with things that were 'almost' ready to change the world, and an intact colonization ship, even just a prototype, might be wasted. The Arc should be good enough to be usable as a submarine, but not as a viable space program substitute. That said, a pro-Enclave player should be able to believe that an Enclave victory along with the Arc could lead back to such a space program eventually.

Finally, the Atlantis campaign doesn't quite fulfill the original intention of exploring or elaborating the 'illegitimate' factor of Hans and the Enclave Marines. The original intent was to explore/expose the nature of the Marine's cultish tribalism, but that does not fit well in the context of the journey narrative. The Marine illegitimacy would need to be handled in the main game instead.

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Geography Summary

Atlantis is a deep see colony hidden in an ocean trench near Puerto Rico. While the pre-war Americans were able to secretly sail directly to it by submarine, the Enclave doesn't have a submarine with the range to go there. Instead a series of underwater caverns and pre-war submarine bases have been used as staging grounds, jumping points for the procured submarine to get to.

Atlantis itself is a floating base, built into a large rock kept buoyant and mobile by automated systems. Looking more like a asteroid base in space than a sea colony, built mostly into the rock with some external structures and docking facilities visible, it floats at a deep enough depth that bio-luminescent sea creatures provide a constantly changing sea of stars.

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Author Note:

This was by far the hardest DLC concept to come up with. The original ideas of the Enclave DLC were centered around the idea that this would be the big scoop and discovery of the secret history of the Enclave Marines and Governor Hans. I knew it was going to involve the Marines some way... but trying to rope Governor Hans into it was too hard and various ideas were too difficult. There were musings that we would go to the secret bunker of the Marines (back in the phase where their location was undecided and might have been on an island- dropped because Hans discovering them would have made no sense), or sail up the Mississippi into the interior (too far away, and violating the coastal/Caribbean intent of the DLC), and so on.

The Marine element stayed, with remnants of the Hans factor, but the 'dark secret of the Enclave' changed from 'Hans' illegitimacy' to the nefarious secret behind the Vaults. For the better, I'd say- the space angle of Fallout is one of the least developed, and the parallels between the deep sea and space become one I am ridiculously proud of, even if I couldn't express it well.

This was the last of the DLC, so please review and share your thoughts or questions about all of these DLC. Questions will be addressed next post. Next stop will be the game mechanics and setting quirks, and then finished off with the entirely too in-depth social analysis of the factional societies (the bedrock foundation design for the factions and setting).

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Secret of the Bayou:

Space travel prospects for the future... are dim. Even though this scenario revolves around a space ship, it's not particularly space-worthy in and of itself. Like most of the Fallout setting, people are far more concerned with the day-to-day survival and re-establishment of society than they are about going back to the stars.

Of all the possible outcomes and imports, there are only two plausible candidates for space that I see at this time: Mr. House in New Vegas, and a victorious Enclave in Orleans. No one else has the time, the interest, the science, and the money to bother.

Mr. House, if he's around, has the head start. As part of his re-development of the high-technology sector, Vegas has launched at least one satellite into orbit, the first since the Great War. A manned space launch is rumored to be in the 'near' future, but has yet to happen. Mr. House's focus on space travel is economic: he wants to re-map the world, he wants to hear what other continents are transmitting on radio, and he wants to put his own communication satellites into orbit. Mr. House's space program would be commercially focused first and foremost, up to and including eventually selling space trips to the richest of the rich.

The Enclave, if it wins, puts Space as a third-tier priority (bumped to a second-tier if you side with them in Atlantis) of 'sometime after Orleans stabilizes a bit.' The Enclave's interest in space would be more militaristic: to reclaim and re-harness the various surviving pre-war satellites that are still floating above, including the military ones. The Enclave isn't necessarily going to invade anyone else in the next ten-fifteen years, but it wouldn't be at all surprising if when they did they had reclaimed and rearmed orbital bombardment satellites like they used in FO3. There might be some competition with Mr. House for some of the satellites, but overall little direct confrontation. The Enclave space program would be utilitarian, not commercial, in nature.


	45. Costumes and Crafting

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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Crafting and Costumes

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Shop/Equipment Specialties

Mentioned briefly above, a concept of specializations for the factions. This would be reflected in their stores as well.

The Enclave is, of course, the high-technology faction. Power armor and energy weapons, at range they'll decimate anyone and everyone. Enclave Vendors tailor towards that idea of quality over quantity: expensive products, higher qualities, and tech-related equipment and junk.

The Blue Waters are the bands of mercenaries and merchants who have scrounged the wasteland, and are about economy and force. The best guns, the best conventional armor, the widest range of stock from their generalists. Stimpacks over super-stims, good guns over good lasers, salvaged goods over brand new, the Blue Waters are your standard bread-and-butter supplier. If they were a real-world company, they would be the Walmart of arms suppliers. You can get better if you go elsewhere, and you can get cheaper if you try, but it's hard to get more for better for cheaper.

Orleans is the case of poor man finds a way. The survivalist/melee/explosive faction, the only ranged weapons Orleans excels at is the Grenade-range, mixed with shotguns. Orleans soldiers are about traps, landmines, ambushes, and when nothing else will do charging into shotgun/grenade range on their way to melee you. Orleans soldiers are big on endurance in bad conditions, and that's reflected in their equipment and crafting. Orleans has, pound-for-armor, the best non-powerarmor you can get, thanks to the knowledge of Bayou alterations and materials. Orleans is also the crafting king, having lots of crafting components to jury-rig or improve equipment past the Blue Water standard (assuming you can find the components).

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Crafting

Fallout: New Vegas style crafting is back, and how. While all the faction can make use of it, the Orleans Empire was virtually built on it, literally. On top of being an explorer, politician, and parent, the First Consul was a chemist. A massively good one as well, who looked around the ruins of Orleans and the many unique and deadly products of the Bayou and figured out how to put them together and create a city-state.

While the Enclave is fixated on the idea of building a new future with technology, and the Blue Water pirates about scrounging Old World remains, Orleans has the strongest thematic tie with crafting and creation. New paint, new clothes, new buildings with wood, new weapons, and new bombs. Especially new bombs.

Besides the standard Fallout wasteland bread and butter scrap, the Bayou in particular offers its own crafting components. Bayou components, whether based off of old world flora or entirely post-apocalyptic, have absorbed and filtered so many chemicals they can be used to make drugs or enhance bombs. Bayou plants, sold by Orleans merchants, are key for many specialized recipes and weapon effects. While under-gunned, Orleans troops have the most poisons and status effects associated with their fighting style.

Animal hunting also takes a more important role in crafting, being used for weapons, armor, and food Hides treated for value, or be used to create more valuable clothes and armors. Trophy parts, like deathclaw hands and deathjaw skulls, can be used for weapon or armor. A player specializing as a Bayou hunter and crafter can make decent income, and have good equipment, just from hunting, gathering, and crafting.

To help assist in crafting, across the Bayou the player will be able to find junk traders. These traders specialize in, well, junk and crafting materials. They rarely have many caps, but instead keep a better stock of crafting materials than would be found elsewhere. On the downside, they sell crafting materials for several times the normal cost, making the player trade convenience for profit. Most crafting traders focus in a narrow lane of specialty: a Bayou hunter might have the materials to augment tanning of hides, but not bone-related items (if there were any) or so on.

All factions, major and minor, would have a special reputational store restricted to those who earn high enough approval with the faction. Usually cast as a supply depot or storage center, these stores would have not only an exceptional amount of caps and specialty goods (such as factional clothes or weapons), but also a constant stock of crafting materials commonly used for the factional-themed item crafting.

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Costumes

Have you ever wanted to travel the wasteland with a badass duster covering your dirty, overpowered power armor? Or conduct SCIENCE with a lab coat, without giving up combat armor underneath? Run through a gun fight dressed as a superhero? Or just dress up as the superhero you are, period?

Costumes are the new equipment category to let you do just that. Fitting with the city's theme of redecorating and adding life to the dull, brown bayou, costumes are a part of Orleans culture. Able to be worn under, over, or instead of armor, costumes provide character to your Navigator and bonuses to your character.

Costumes come in the same sort of sizes as armors, plus one: large, medium, small, and personal. These reflect what sort of armor they can be worn over: a duster cloak, a large costume, could be worn over heavy power armor, but good luck wearing a small costume like a mummy suit over anything larger than light clothes. A medium-sized MAD SCIENCE lab coat, however, may fit nicely over that medium combat armor. While small costumes are the sort you could wear light armor/clothes under, personal-sized costumes are the tight or revealing sort that nothing else could be worn under. There are also helmet costumes (such as wigs) and face-wear costumes (eye patches, funny goggles, etc.).

Besides appearances, the biggest benefits from costumes are the stat bonuses. In fact, a number of the previous skill-increasing clothes would now be considered costumes: doctor clothes giving medical bonus, Benjamin Franklin's wig with its speech bonus, and the like. Costumes take these themed bonuses further, with skill bonuses or even temporary perks. Not only can costumes help you make those skill checks, but a theme set or rare piece may bestow a temporary perk. A full costume set including mask will disguise your factional alignment almost as a matter of course. Wearing the legendary Pintsize Slasher mask will not only mask your faction, but make your karma appear evil while you wear it.

So costumes look cool. They carry stat bonuses. They can even be worn in addition to, rather than instead of, armor, allowing them to be additive rather than mutually exclusive with combat potential. To top it off, since most are just clothes a number can be repaired with common clothes or post-war rags. What's the down-side?

Well…

Most costume sets are small or personal sized, some are medium, and only a few are large, which means that they can't be stacked on your biggest, toughest armors. Costumes tend to not offer much in the way of damage protection either, making a poor replacement for combat gear, while poor item health makes for frequent repairs. When you can't find the materials to repair a costume yourself, costumes have a disproportionate repair cost, while a costume repair kit costs the same as a weapon repair kit. Costumes also tend to be exceptionally heavy and worth less than armors of equivalent weight, making them a drag on inventory value.

There are exceptions, of course. The large duster cloak would be dirt cheap to repair. A power ranger costume set would likely have usable armor and synergize decently for a melee build. Factor in the Companion Jack's unique companion perk, and costumes can be a viable (if not ideal) equipment strategy.

More for fun than min-maxing, in other words, but certainly usable. Costumes add spirit to the Bayou, and residents of Orleans treat a costume like modern day people would consider a nice change of clothes: everyone tries to have at least one, and maybe more.

Some example costumes, with possible effects…

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Body

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Personal: Exceptionally tight or skin-showing costumes that would be ruined by wearing something else underneath. Have the highest bonuses, but the least protection. The only costumes that can't be worn with standard equipment.

-Sexy Sleepwear: the Fallout classic, now including a sleep cap and teddy as other items in the set. Set bonus gives you the Well Rested effect from sleeping in non-rented beds.

-Cheerleader Set: Dress as a high school cheerleader, male or female. Short shirts, short skirts, and pom-poms as a melee weapon. Set bonus increases companion attack rate.

-Slave Set: Straight from the Pit. Grants the effect of what would be called the 'Once a Slave' perk, which gives some slave-related dialogue options and will see neutral Regulators, Enclave, and some Orleans come to your aid in combat if attacked by pirates/raiders/slavers.

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Small: Full-body costumes and themed wear. The most outrageous costumes, but often with the greatest skill bonuses. The general standard of size is 'could I wear a small business suit underneath this?' Don't forget to wear wastelander clothes underneath for additional stat bonuses.

-Harlequin Costume: Technically a factional costume, it puts you in the 'Raider' faction. Great for entering the Halequin HQ or Brown Water town peacefully. Not so good against, well, anyone else.

-Pretend Power Armor: For when the real stuff just won't do. It's not worth much in combat, but the set bonus convinces everyone else that you're actually in power-armor. That means they'll waste armor-piercing ammo and EMP grenades on your unarmored ass, rather than more dangerous things. It's also enough to get into the Enclave's Power Armor-only section, assuming no one looks too closely.

-Power Ranger Costume: has medium-armor levels of armor, carries a +5 unarmed bonus for costume and helmet. Set bonus gives a perk for damage resistance against unarmed melee attacks. (Alternate set might focus on melee/energy weapons, possibly with small explosions when shooting/hit with energy weapons? Very small version of energy weapon explosion perk from FNV.)

-Vampire Costume: Bonuses to sneak and speech. Costume set (including vampire teeth) would be to get more health from blood packs (and cannibalism).

-Superhero/villain Costumes: Any number you want, up to and including the Mechanist and AntAgonizer from FO3. Superhero costumes, while expensive and heavy, have exceptional armor and their set bonus gives combat bonuses appropriate to their theme. (Damage protection/bonuses for machines, fire, wild animals, etc.) Superhero costumes are some of the best combinations with Jack's ability for combat purposes.

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Medium: Usually based on overcoats or oversized clothes, especially marshmallow suits. The frame of reference is usually 'could I wear combat armor underneath?' Provides bonuses to moderate armor so that you don't have to swap out for specialized but combat-inferior armors.

-MAD SCIENCE: The archetype of 'throw a lab coat over it' Medium costumes, and effectively replacing the lab coat/medical scrub light armors from previous games. With a labcoat, doctor gloves for melee, and appropriate glasses, the player gets a set bonus that matches the highest bonus of science/medicine/repair/crafting to all that participate. (If a set offers +4 science/+5 medicine/+2 repair/no crafting, then perk raises the bonuses to +5/+5/+5/0.)

-Space Suit: The bulkier, real-world marshmallow suit kind more than the tighter ones from FNV. Set bonus grants underwater breathing and radiation protections.

-Quackers the Duck Suit: The Fallout-equivalent of Donald Duck, a commie-hating duck soldier extraordinaire. The player holds weapons underneath the comically oversized wings… and the set bonus reduces the spread of machine gun fire fired from the waist, Rambo-style. Have fun.

And, with special note to the Carnival campaign rewards…

-Pip Boy/Gal Costume: A marshmallow suit and classic pipboy head. On top of an impressive defense rating for a medium costume, making it synergize well for combat defense, the real strength is the sheer flexibility of bonuses.

Each Pip body piece raises a SPECIAL stat by 1, and increases the associated skills by another 2 for a total of +5 skill. The Strengths costume has big arms. The Speed would be of a track suit. An appropriate themed body type for each SPECIAL.

The head pieces are even more unique, each having a distinctive expression, straight from your Pipboy screen. There's Sad Face. And Happy Face! And MURDEROUS RAGE Face. And even more specialized Friendly Doctor/Soot-stained Mechanic/Black Eye-Melee faces, one for each skill category. Pip heads spread around 10 skill points as appropriate, meaning that a match set can have up to +15 skill points in a single category. Yowza.

And what, pray tell, could be the Set Bonus for such a set? Well, if you have a Pip Costume set, clearly you're SPECIAL. And your lowest SPECIAL (or one of your tied lowest) is raised one point. Or your body type has a specific, SPECIAL-related bonus… like 3% critical for Luck. Or a speed bonus to VATS recharge. Or carrying more weight.

Basically, imagine going around everywhere as Pip. For bonus points, change heads as appropriate.

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Large: 'Can I wear it over power armor?' That's the question here. Not many costumes do, usually just cloaks and capes, but those that do often provide some bonuses that make your heavy armors even better.

-Marsh Monster Costume: Effectively the plant-coverage over-suit that real-world snipers use. Provides stealth bonuses in the Bayou or Marsh regions. Set bonus would grant sneak-attack bonuses.

-Children Love'em: Someone's seriously mis-aimed appeal to making the Enclave troopers more child-friendly. A harness filled with children's toys, baubbles, and it covers your armor with doodles. Humiliating, and wastelanders will try to cover their snorts of laughter. Oddly enough, kids like it.

-Pirate Captain: A pirate cape over the shoulders, an eyepatch, and a special head-set that puts a fake parrot on your shoulder. Besides inviting countless pirate puns and making you the sworn enemy of all ninjas, the set bonus could work as a factional disguise for the coastal pirates.

-Duster Cloak: A cloak and hood combo to protect yourself from the environment of the Bayou. It's dirt-cheap to repair, adds no protection, but ascetic of the badass cloaked wanderer is worth it. If it isn't, perhaps the set bonus of a 1% decrease in damage to your armor health, saving you hundreds or thousands of caps in maintenance costs over the long term, will change your mind.

-Caped Crusader: Capes. Is there anything they don't make better? A variety of different capes, some with superheros in mind and some with less pretension. And a royal cape with more. Besides a small stat bonus that varies by type, capes billow dramatically behind you. Why not go for one?

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Headwear

Some would be parts of sets, some can be stand-alone.

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Full-Head

Masks in General: Masks and face coverage are the key for disguises. This works with not only factional armors, but costume sets. Most costume sets with a mask will disguise the player's faction as 'Neutral,' though a high-enough reputation and significant people will see through such disguises.

-Pintsize Slasher Mask: It's back. This artifact of evil, a present from Longhorn and Associates if you agree to do dubious deeds for them, will not only disguise your faction but it also marks you as Evil to everyone. For most people, that won't matter: few in the Bayou deal with you on the basis of morality. For others, expect to see children run away in terror. Despite Littlehorn's (false) assurances, wearing the mask will NOT protect your 'real' Karma level from any actions you do while wearing it. When you take off the mask, karma catches up to you: he just lies so that the wearer has a false sense of moral refuge. And in hopes that you'll end up killing a Regulator or three when they attack evil characters on sight.

* * *

Eyewear

-Colored Contacts: Can change eye color. Almost purely ascetic, but a small bonus to disguise.

-Gag glasses: Simply comical. Can work as part of any factional disguise.

-Pirate Eye Patch: Exactly what it says. Carries a +1 charisma, and a -1 perception.

-Cyber Eye Patch: A pre-war cybernetics prototype. Looks like an eye patch, but has a computer screen/sensor. +1 to both charisma and perception, and can fill in for a pirate eye patch for costume sets.

* * *

Author Note:

Feedback time. Which was... no questions, really, but I felt I should clarify some intents about the Blue Water DLC, which got the most remarks.

For the first, for the plausibility of the NCR having influence as far south as Panama/Nicaragua. It's not that the NCR has borders down there, or even that their agents walked all the way there. The NCR presence is a relatively small group of NCR rangers and agents, and the most likely way they got there was by boat. A Blue Water boat, most likely. The NCR and Blue Waters are in a low-key naval war, with the Blue Waters seeking to prevent the NCR from developing an independent navy, but it's a hostility-on-sight conflict either. Blue Water affiliates can be paid to take NCR persons here or there. The Ones in the Canal Zone (and in Victoria) would generally be those who bought passage from the Blue Waters. Weapons and gear would have been smuggled and/or involved bribery.

As for Captain Supermutant's plan- it wasn't intended as 'the Blue Waters are unstoppable,' but rather 'this plan will succeed until it fails.' My working assumption of the Fallout setting is that pretty much everyone is similar to what the the Wasteland is: you have small pockets of civilization, of dubious viability, in general anarchy. More societies fail, to threats/disaster/incompetence, than succeed. The rise of actual states in North America is very recent, may not last (if the NCR dies of famine or the Legion has social collapse), and is generally limited in presence and scope. There may not be an organized sea-faring civilization anywhere else in the world... or there may well be. The Blue Waters expansionist strategy is following the path of least resistance, since any local maritime power willing to fight them likely could. There is no real expectation that the Blue Water expansion strategy will go on unopposed- merely that they will continue doing so as long as they can.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Costumes. What is there left to say? When I have my mental image of playing through the game, I envision tacky costume mods as much as anything else.


	46. Radio Stations

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Radio Stations

* * *

No matter what, the Projector is the dominant Radio Station of the wasteland. It can be heard everywhere, and it's also the most important 'news' source. However, both Orleans and Enclave have a smaller radio station that can be picked up in their areas and into the Bayou, while the Blue Waters have re-purposed various antenna stations for a music/advertisement program. Each radio station has a small home base.

Enclave Radio takes the tone of President Eden with a calm, collected, and reassuring tone that expresses optimism at Enclave gains and skepticism towards Orleans radio. It is based off of WW2 BBC radio- slanted and biased, but couched in a veil of moderation. It's even known for admitting Enclave defeats and crimes, albeit in a fashion sympathetic to Governor Hans and the reformists, a concession that gets it credibility with the locals. Aside from the news, it also will talk about various Enclave infrastructure success stories, similar to Soviet-era production quota reports such as how monthly predictions of the recycling center has been beaten by increased Orleaner participation, or how new roads were made for this town or new housing was opened for more residents. The point of these is to emphasize the Enclave's ongoing success in restoring America bit by bit.

The home base for Enclave Radio is a small office in Enclave territory. Led by a pro-Hans local who clearly believes the propaganda about Hans the Idealist, he never directly criticizes Hans. Instead, he generally casts the blame on Hans' opponents in the Enclave military, and relishes the chances to cast Hans as the fixer of bad deeds. Considering that the Enclave internal politics and quest outcomes for Enclave abuses often means Hans using corruption in the Army ranks as leverage in the ongoing power struggle, this happens enough to give Hans a benign reputation. Proving Hans' complicity in something terrible will visibly shake the broadcaster. It won't change his broadcasts, but he'll be more jaded and believe he's working for a lesser evil rather than a force for good.

Orleans Radio is bombastic and energetic, with Fascist or Soviet-style exaggerations and emotion. Minor victories are Glorious Successes, stalemates are Heroic Resistance, and defeats are Fierce Fighting. Openly enamored towards Napoleon, it also has a notable segment called 'Bayou Bloom,' a Tokyo Rose propaganda piece of an attractive-sounding woman trying to entice Enclave National Guard to defect. On the home front any success or common accomplishment, like a recruiting drive, assumes epic importance, while collaborators and criminals are cast as the blackest traitors and subversives. The general over-the-top nature makes it the most popular radio program, and is considered comedy by the Enclave forces who secretly listen to it.

The home-base is in the artificial hills east of the city. Pretty much a two-person production, the 'host' is never visible and stays in a hidden bunker, refusing to come out lest he be killed. He's clearly crazy and possibly besotted with Napoleon, and looking around his office suggests he's a bit of a nerd. The player communicates with Rose, who is a geek with a great voice that you wouldn't expect when looking at her: she got into radio as a hobby and is a bit more subdued in her admiration with Napoleon. The outfit as a whole carries a bit of a ham radio operator theme.

The Blue Waters Music Program is broadcast a series of sub-stations that were bought/repaired by Blue Water merchants during the stalemate. It has no news segment, but is instead has jingles and advertisements for its sponsors, the local businesses, between its songs. It would also be the station to play any radio dramas... including tales of the Blue Waters sailing the high seas and having an exciting adventure. These advertisements could also serve as key-ins and hints as to the various DLC, referencing the locations even before the DLC is played. It also gives weather updates, which would be affected in any weather events in-game (rain, winds, whatever).

As a home base, it would be the actual music club in Orleans. A signature bar, a sort of neutral land for everyone who just wants music along the riverfront. A potential side-quest for the player is to claim/reactivate various abandoned broadcast towers across the Bayou. Small sites akin to the FO3 repeating broadcast towers, activating them will spread the broadcast radius of the Blue Water radio. Activating them all will make this a full map broadcast, and gain Blue Water reputation and rewards in the process.

All the stations play music between the news, with a factional focus. The Enclave has 'classical' fallout music and some patriotic American music, a focus of class and old-world patriotism. Orleans has jingoistic and martial music, with a bit of country thrown in as well- pre-war music that sung up New Orleans and the Deep South. The music for the Blue Waters is jazz and blues, like the Old World Blues radio station in FNV.

* * *

Author Note:

The radio stations. This is one of those ideas that may be cooler than it would be feasible in a game. I certainly love the idea of competing radio stations that reflect your actions. It was always on in my playthroughs, and Three Dog and Mr. New Vegas were key world builders and hints of how to explore. I wanted that, and to expand it between two competing factions with two competing narratives and viewpoints. It was, in other words, what I wished Enclave Radio would have done in FO3. Embellishing it with old classical radio bits like Tokyo Rose only worked better with the war narrative, while the Blue Water quest of repurposing broadcast stations from the pre-war to expand the radio coverage is a good quest of how Orleans is moving forward in its own right rather than dwelling eternally on the apocalypse.

That said, I understand getting music, good music, into a game can be expensive in its own right. I'm not a music guru, so I couldn't tell you what's good, but if there was a 'let's cut costs' choice to be made I would expect the three radio stations to be one of them: first in terms of music variety, and then in a serious discussion of whether there should be two radio stations or whether there should only be one (the Projector) which changes editorial slant depending on who controls it.

And right now it occurs to me that I never did put the radio stations as points of interest in the location list. A bit embarrassing to realize and admit.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The breakdown of the radio stations in terms of their intent, their broad reputation, and their primary audience.

Enclave Radio

Intent: A news radio that provides a professional and useful accounting of news and important announcements, with enough candor and self-criticism of the Enclave to be credible to the Wasteland but keeping a subtle pro-Enclave line.

Reputation: A generally reliable and accurate news source with a more pro-Hans editorial slant than a pro-Enclave. It's professional and restrained enough that only the truly well-informed would be able to catch the omissions, and the general casual listener ruberic is that when the Enclave Radio disagrees with the Orleans radio, the Enclave Radio position is probably closer to the truth than the Orleans radio.

Primary Audience: People who wish to be informed. Enclave Radio is listened to for informational value by all factions, even the Orleans military, because its number estimates are far more reliable than the Orleans Radio.

Orleans Radio:

Intent: A hyper-nationalist radio intended to motivate and spur nationalist sentiment and opposition to the Enclave and shore up support at home. No military defeat is too large to be lied about, not Enclave crime too small to be the next war crime.

Reputation: As a news station, abysmal. You have to learn the true meaning behind the hyperbolic adjectives before you can even take value from its bombastic claims. Exagerations are so great that the common rule for any number claims made by the radio is to divide by ten, subtract five, and to take that with a grain of salt. A heroic ambush that killed 50 Enclave Army might actually have been a skirmish that killed two or three National Guard.

Primary Audience: People who want to be entertained. You don't listen to the station for the news, except that if it agrees with the Enclave Radio then the Enclave is probably telling the truth. You listen in for the performance- the conviction and emotion and sheer entertainment factor that someone could actually say this stuff with a straight face and then have someone with so sexy a voice as Orleans Bloom working with him. While it's technically forbidden by the Enclave to the National Guard for fear of defectors, only a remarkable fool (read: sidequest here) would take it seriously.

Blue Water Radio:

Intent: An apolitical radio intended to advertise Blue Water affiliates and provide non-factional entertainment. The only political message within is 'the Blue Waters are good, come shop with us!'

Reputation: It's not a news station, but a music station with advertisements. It's apolitical nature lets it safely be heard everywhere as uncontroversial, even in Orleans territory where Blue Waters are rarely welcomed.

Primary Audience: Music lovers and passive dissidents. Listening to Blue Water radio rather than your factional radio can be a subtle sign of dissent or apathy towards a faction: Orleaners who don't care about Napoleon, or collaborators who don't really buy in to the Enclave propaganda. Tuning into the enemy's radio is too obvious a signal of dissent, so the Blue Waters station is the most popular with the politically apathetic who just want the war over with and to move on with their lives.


	47. Newspapers

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Newspapers

* * *

One of the ideas that was mentioned in the main-body of thought was that each faction would have its own printed-media. Pamphlets or newspapers to advance their own version of events. Newspapers not only provide a good non-radio way to give news, but they can also reflect 'carryover' choices from Fallout 3 or Fallout: New Vegas. They could be a pip-boy download, or an actual item that could be gathered and used for crafting.

By extension, each faction would have their own printing press. Each faction could have their own propaganda facility and their own little quest related to it. Each paper should have its own theme/focus… and its own joke at its own expense.

USA Tomorrow would be the Enclave publication. It would be the feel-good military-newspaper meant to tell about how well the Enclave is making life better for people, but written in that Fallout-American ego-centricism that makes it read more like it's written for one's own opinion than for information. Stories would focus on the restoration projects and achievements, no matter how minor, and downplaying setbacks and defeats.

The USA Tomorrow would probably be printed on an Enclave laser printer. A quest would be to find parts/ink for the machine to make more copy. The joke is that while all these copies are being made and distributed, _no one in the Enclave actually reads them:_ cynics don't bother, idealists find it sycophantic. A reoccurring joke would be of Enclave officers, up to and including Governor Hans, trying to hide their ignorance of what's actually written in it.

Orleans Bugle is the Napoleon-dominated nationalist paper. It's the gritty, bombastic, blood-pumping rag meant to incite righteous patriotism against the unjust invasion and occupation of the Yankee-Enclave. Reading like an old Southern Yellow Journalism, it would hype every real and imagined Enclave crime to histrionics, appeal to protecting the virtue of your girls from the Americans and their fascist-thuggish police, and lionize the masculinity of the Orleans soldiers and, of course, glowing terms for Napoleon herself. Stories would lionize Orleans victories and exaggerate Enclave moral failings.

Orleans Bugle would be the best candidate for being made in an actual Newspaper building, a First Consul project that Napoleon kept and twisted into a nationalistic propaganda tool. The best quest would be smuggling the papers into Enclave-occupied settlements and territory, to give to resistance groups. The joke is that the Enclave soldiers actually find the Orleans Bugle hilariously entertaining, and that everyone across the region agrees that the soft pulp of the Bugle makes for the best toilet paper.

News of the Wasteland would be the Blue Waters paper. Given that the Blue Waters are not only neutral but have the most widespread exposure, and News of the Wasteland would be the 'impartial' paper. Written as a world/regional/local news format, it would give the most concise acknowledgements of quest solutions and events. Most notably, News of the Wasteland would be the most relevant in reflecting Big Decisions from Fallout 3 or FO:NV. Who runs Vegas, the state of the NCR-Legion War, the Capital Wasteland… etc.

Since NotW would be on the Camp Cargo and be transported, it would be the best candidate for an old-fashioned printing press. A quest could be another delivery quest, delivering bundles of papers to various Blue Water vendors. The joke of the paper would be NPC's questioning if it got the Big Decisions right. A stand in for the player who made a different choice, like 'But I thought the Legion took Vegas!' NPCs going on about the various other choices.

* * *

Author Note:

Similar to the radio. The idea here was that at various towns (or in inhabited dungeons) you would be able to find a newspaper of some sort that could reflect your progress on various quests and have a short news story about the effects. The idea was inspired/stolen from the news articles you could find as you went through Deus Ex: Human Revolution which would had news stories that both reflected your main missions and provided some world building as well.

Newspapers would probably have to reflect main story progression, rather than side quests, as a concession to non-linear gameplay. While I would love it if they could reflect sidequests as well, the fact that as a planner you have no idea when of even if a sidequest was done would impact the scope of the idea. Which isn't a huge draw back, since you can use the news paper space to talk about other things for world building, but it won't be as reactive as the radio updates.

One possibility for reactivity, though, would be for special editions. They would be short pamphlets that start circulating after you've completed a Major Quest, and so would circle independently of the critical path newspapers.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Having a printing press and media system is one of the points that broadly separates the rising nations from the wasteland despots and gas-station forts across North America. Any gang can have numbers, or hijack a radio station, but the ability to produce and circulate news papers implies the ability to create and maintain a bureaucracy, which is often what separates a mob from a military. Even the Legion keeps receipts, or so the saying would go.

Another element is the creation of a currency, a topic which will get plenty of attention next update.


	48. Currencies

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

Moneychangers

* * *

As civilizations rise, they need money. One of the distinguishing differences between unorganized regions and a real post-apocalyptic civilization is when they move from the scavenger-driven Caps economy to producing their own money.

While caps are still the baseline currency, each faction prefers their own medium of exchange. In addition to some factional stores that would only trade rare items in their specific currency, using factional money when buying from merchants the same faction would give you a small bonus to value on the value of the currency, equivalent to 5 barter points. Also, merchants would generally expect to buy from you in money rather than caps: a factional trader might have two or three times as much currency for trade as caps.

Money changers, neutral Blue Water affiliates, can change one currency to another for a small fee. You can also exchange for out-of-region currencies for neutral trade value: these don't have trade advantages, but don't have disadvantages either. There are also money-related crafting recipes, so money changers can be useful for that. Want a gilded sword? Get some Legion gold. Want high-quality ammo? Pitt steel is good for casings.

As a nod to considering the game states of the previous Fallout games (FO3 and FNV), the base value of each foreign currency would be based on the world status of the 'import' setting. The NCR dollar would be stronger if it won Vegas, and weaker if the Legion won.

If the game master were to provide 'starter packs' to the player, with themed initial starting gear and inventory for the player based on initial build, a 'trader pack' for barter-based players might start with five units of each foreign currency. (Five $5 NCR dollars, 5 Legion Denarius, etc.) to represent the player as a trader. Later on, a stockpile of foreign exchange, such as 10 units of each currency foreign currency, would make a good part of a Trader-themed quest reward.

* * *

Various Foreign Tender to Consider

Foreign currencies are value-neutral, in that there is never a trade advantage associated with using them with various vendors. They often have some crafting or utility value associated, however, and so may be worth the fee of converting the caps into them.

Foreign Trade Vendors are merchants associated with the Blue Waters who only deal in foreign currencies, but in exchange would sell foreign iconic gear that otherwise wouldn't be available in the Bayou. You would have to buy NCR Ranger Armor in NCR dollars (with fees), Legion gear with Legion gold, and so on. These gears would be marked up in price and in the currency conversion costs, but would allow some iconic gear from past games.

The foreign currencies would include...

NCR Dollars: The first post-war paper money. Has fiat value, worth whatever the state of the NCR says. The advantage of paper money is that it's value reflects the fortunes of the NCR. Paper money of all sorts can be used as padding for various armor crafting- which also means that using NCR dollars instead of Old World or Enclave bills can be exceptionally cheap or exceptionally expensive for crafting depending on who won in Vegas.

Legion Gold: The strongest currency with the least variability regardless of state of the Legion. Go Gold Standard. Legion Gold has significant weight for money, but has a high weight-value ratio. Gold can also be used to craft gilded armor and weapons- a modest improvement in strength and weight but a massive boost to value that often outweighs the value of the currency and armor separately.

Vegas Poker Chip: An official currency if Mr. House rules, a de facto one if he doesn't, but always worth the same number of caps regardless. The value of a Vegas poker chip would be in weight savings for a hardcore mode in which caps would have weight. A poker chip worth 100 caps weighs as much as a single cap, so when the weight of money is a concern poker chips can be a major weight-saving tool for pocket change of caps.

Pitt Ingot: An ingot of Pitt steel. Valued more for its use in crafting than for trade, it's not as strong in value as gold but pretty strong. Comes in two units of value: High Quality (better for crafting) and Low Quality, more impurities and used for trade. High Quality ingots can be made from Low Quality ingots via crafting. High Quality ingots are more common if Ashur rules the slaves, while Low Quality ingots are cheaper if the slaves are flooding the presses with them.

D.C. Aqua Pura Voucher: A coupon worth a bottle (or a barrel) of Aqua Pura if redeemed at the Jefferson Memorial. A bottle voucher is worth a bottle of pure water (20 caps), and a barrel voucher is more (say, 500). Effectively the Pure Water standard, unless the Lone Wanderer poisoned it, in which case only Enclave merchants will pay it and everyone else will pay a single cap.

Institute Eyes: More of a trade good than a currency, the institute occasionally trades advanced cybernetic technology in exchange for goods and services. The most common of these are cybernetic eyes. With readily available wasteland medical knowledge, it can be implanted in a person in place of one of their own. Only two would exist in the setting, both related to Blue Water traders and quests, and could be used for a perk (and the second for an enhancement) boosting perception and offering an advantage.

* * *

Besides foreign currency, one of the advantages of money changers comes from the changes in value of the local money. As the player progresses, the value of the factional currencies can change. Enclave Dollars and Orleans Chips will change depending on the storyline (going up or down depending who you side with at the end of Act 1 and Act 2), while Blue Water Stocks will change more frequently depending on various quests. The player will get better value for their loot if they change it to the faction they support before the value changes.

* * *

Enclave Dollars

The Enclave is the faction seeking a paper currency, obviously modeled on the Dollar. Functionally identical to the NCR dollars, they come in varying increments. Considered the weakest currency of the Gulf Coast, being the newest and least established, they have about 2-to-1 dollar-to-cap ratio.

The Enclave is trying to get the old world bills off the market. Besides recycling Old World bills (and NCR dollars), there would be a quest in which the Enclave has a 'buyback' program, in which they offer twice the number of Enclave bills in exchange for turning in a number of old world bills. Give them 25 Old World 20's, and you'll get a one-time deal of 50 Enclave 20's, and so on. When buying Enclave dollars from Enclave merchants, you will also get a better deal (+5 barter) if you buy them with old world bills.

As a crafting material, Enclave Dollars make excellent toilet paper. More seriously, Enclave money is generally clean and burnable, relatively rare in Orleans. Paper money can be used as kindling for fires (a common crafting requirement at fires, while wood or other kindling is rare), as padding in certain crafted equipment and costumes, and Enclave money that has been cleaned (or laundered, if you will) can be used for makeshift bandages and medical supplies.

* * *

Orleans Wood Chips

Orleans uses wooden chips, made from Bayou trees and treated with special resins and chems until they look like dark, varnished wood with an Orleans seal engraved. Well established in the Bayou, they are the strongest local currency by default. Hand-engraved and treated, the size of the chip indicates its value: Token Chips (domino-sized) are worth five caps, Medallion Chips (three inch diameter circles) are worth twenty-five caps, and a Block Chip (think a small cell phone block) would be 50, and so on.

Wood Chips are something of a cultural pride for the value of art. While there are official engravers, the key to uniqueness is in the carving and treatment of the chip with the secret resins. Despite the wood and plants being freely available in the Bayou, creating wood chips is recognized as a feat of skill and art, and successful forgery is actually applauded. The Bayou perception is that anyone who can create a convincing replica deserves the value. It's only someone cad enough to try mass producing chips that earns ire.

Orleans Chips, thanks to their resin treatment, don't burn well. They hardly burn at all, actually, and are quite resistant to cold and electricity and toxins as well. Wood chips can be used to craft armors with high elemental resistances, and to make some rare non-lethal weapons and ammo (such as batons and wood chip ammo).

* * *

Blue Water Stock Plates

The Blue Waters don't have a currency of their own, per see, but they do issue stock. Representing the collective value of the Blue Water associates, these etched platinum plates were distributed amongst the founding companies, and more are only created when a new partner joins. The owners are left to do with them as they will- some sell them, some grant them as rewards for tasks or recognition for good work, and some hoard them to try and build influence within the Blue Waters. The stocks don't denote ownership, per see, but Captain Supermutant tends to spare an ear for those who are heavily invested in the Blue Waters.

Stocks are unique amongst the setting in that their number is fixed, their value changes with the completion of quests affecting the Blue Waters, and they have an in-game impact.

To start with, there is a fixed number of Stocks in the game, increased only in the DLC expansions. To pick a number, there might only be two-hundred Stocks in the campaign, spread across the map. Some are treasures you can stumble upon in dungeons or bandit hoard. Some can be stolen from their owners. Pretty much every Blue Waters businessman of note has at least one stock, and will either sell it or give it away as a quest reward (or both). There are also a number floating on the market, being sold by various traders at great prices. Captain Supermutant will give you one for free when you visit him to get your boat. Regardless of the source, there is a fixed number, and only a fixed number, of stock available in a game. Stocks are always present in the world as well: if someone has one to give you as a quest reward, it can either be stolen or looted from their dead body if they die.

The second point is value. Stocks fluctuate depending on how well the Blue Waters do. Stocks are, in their default state, extremely valuable: the starting base price for a stock might be 1000 caps. With the completion of named quests that impact the Blue Waters, the value will go up or down. A storyline quest will change the value by 200 (giving/denying the Cure of the Bayou, joining or oppossing whatever faction they support for the Act 2 finale and making them come off as winners or losers, helping complete/deny their superweapon gambit in Act 3): a radio report/news-worthy quest would change the value by 100: a minor quest might change it by 10. The player is faced with a dilemma: helping the Blue Waters will make selling stocks more profitable, but that may come into conflict with trying to collect them or other factional goals.

The third point is the end-game impact. The player's collection of stock, or lack thereof, can impact the available ending options. While stocks are in no way needed for the 'best' ending if you have high Blue Waters approval, stocks are important if you crossed the Blue Waters in the past or even oppose them. If the player has triggered the double-cross conditions (low reputation, refusing to give the Cure of the Bayou, sabotaging the Superweapon), where they would be left to certain death on the beach, being a significant stockholder can be a saving throw: 50 stocks might convince Captain Supermutant to overlook one of the three double-cross conditions. 100 stocks forgives two. 150, and they won't leave you at all. If you outright oppose them and choose to support another faction, 150 stocks could be used to convince Captain Supermutant to withdraw the Blue Waters from Orleans entirely and avoid a fight with them completely. The reason for Captain Supermutant's willingness to forgive or listen is that the stocks, while not representing ownership, do represent investment in the Blue Waters. To get that number of stocks, you've either spent mountains of caps, done the Blue Waters a number of good turns, or done a lot of bad ones. Any mix of those, and then still keeping the stocks, marks you as someone to be considered very carefully, and definitely not crossed lightly.

Unlike other factional specialty stores, which would only sell items in return for their unique currency, the Blue Water specialty vendor would trade in caps but expand access and offer discounts depending on how many stocks the player has. A greater variety of items, at steeper discounts from outrageous to affordable, as the player gathers more.

For crafting, Stock Plates are used in a number of crafting armors, typically as reinforcements for basic armors to increase their state boosts. Turning Leather Armor into Stock Leather Armor, with more armor and a barter boost. All stock-armors can be broken down at a crafting table to reclaim the Stock Plates (but no other materials). Selling a stock-armor will see the merchant destroy the armor and sell the plates later. (If sold to a random merchant who dies, Stocks will return to a central Blue Water merchant for sale, to keep the supply constant.)

* * *

Final note on money crafting-

All money is used for some sort of crafting, but the king and queen of all money-crafting is the All-Money Armor and the Currency Crown. They only reason they aren't exactly what it says on the tin is because tin isn't a currency.

The Currency Crown is a unique head wear made up of, well, currency. All the local currencies: caps, Enclave Bills, Orleans Chips, and 10 Stock Plates. Add some cleaning materials and polish, and you end up with a platinum crown studded with Orleans chips and caps (while the Enclave bills cushion the interior). It's a crown fit for Napoleon… or for yourself, since while it lacks protection it has hefty Charisma, Speech, and Barter bonuses.

The All-Money Armor is an armor made of, you guessed it. All money. All the types. On top of the Bayou currencies, add High Quality Pitt steel, Vegas poker chips, foreign bills, and a lot of Legion Gold come together in a full-body armor so obscenely rich that it triggers the sun-glare effect whenever you step outside into the sun. In exchange for an armor that costs so much that if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably can't afford it, you get a mediocre non-power armor heavy armor that, aside from looking like a god-king, gives you a +1 SPECIAL boost to all SPECIAL stats, and +10 to all skills except a -100 to stealth. But, let's face it, if you can afford the armor, you can afford to hire an army to do stealth for you.

And, hey, if you equip both at the same time let's say your money drop rate increases by 10. Because you clearly need more money to keep repairing your armor. (Actually, that's probably true. Repair costs will be incredibly high: not only the standard repair cost, but also the difference in armor value between max repair and current. You know, replacement materials and all that.)

Together, the Currency Crown and All-Money Armor might include 50 Stock Plates. Whatever the tally is, the intent is that you will need 100% completion of stock collection if you want both the armor and to be able to talk down Captain Supermutant regardless.

For a similar reason, all the DLC/Expansions would add another 50 or 100 Stocks to the pool: so that you can deck out both yourself and a companion in full extravagance, while still having just enough to convince Captain Supermutant.

* * *

Author Notes:

The system needs tweaks, to be sure (especially with money exchange rates- forgive any ignorant bumbling or exploits I missed), but I like the idea of new currencies and I loved the idea of how they could be used in crafting. Killing Caesar with Legion Gold (or an NCR dogtag fist) was an epic and appropriate way to go about defying and defeating a faction, and the Orleans of my headcanon would be well equipped and prepared to expand crafting to more money-related items.

This is the last of the world-building pieces and gimmick features, so please share your thoughts on any and all of them. The next three chapters will be the last, with an in-depth look at the Big Three cultures, followed by a final review and thoughts.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Here is the secret of the creative and writing process, as told by me.

The best ideas are the ones that come in feverish hazes and that you don't remember writing until you wake up one morning, read what you wrote, and think 'heck yeah!'


	49. PMESII-PT: Enclave

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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PMESII-PT

A useful and structured framework for analysis used to organize and analyze environments and build situational and social understanding. PMESII-PT stands for Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Terrain, and Time. These factors are looked at in broader terms to identify the important dynamics and structures of large groups.

What follows is a relatively short analysis of the three main factions. I say 'relatively' because a truly in-depth analysis could be dozens of pages each.

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Enclave PMESII-PT

'The State of Orleans'

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P: Political

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Social Structure

Enclave-ruled Orleans is a blending of occupied and conquered territory. A hybrid of occupying army and civil administration over the local populace, the Enclave societal goal is to become the accepted and established local government in order to establish itself as the premier regional state. Society is hierarchical and bureaucratic, and broadly divided between the military, the civil-occupational government, and the locals who don't work for the government. While the highest levels of influence and power are retained by 'pure' Enclave and citizens, lower posts and much of the civil administration is open to collaborators.

Leadership

The overall leader of the Enclave in the Orleans area is Governor Hans, who has influence in all three parts of society via his command of the administration, his Enclave Marines and locally-recruited security forces, and cultivating a base of support from the locals. By gaining support from within the High Command and preventing the rise of a rival within the administration or local populace, Hans' position is secure so long as he maintains those key pillars of support.

The Enclave military is not under Hans' command, but reports along its own chain of command through the distant Enclave High Command. Hans works with High Command to influence military policy, but is limited in direct influence to having identified offenders removed from their posts. While there are dissatisfied officers who dislike Hans, his local influence and allies high in the High Command mean there are no open opponents or rivals.

Outside of the Orleans area, there is no civilian government, and ever since the defeat at D.C. the Enclave has been operating under an emergency military council referred to as High Command. The next Presidential Election is planned to occur once the Enclave has established a homeland, which means after the conquest in Orleans at the earliest. Many suspect and expect that Governor Hans would soon become President Hans if the war is won under his leadership.

Political Divisions

The recent and gradual rise to power of the Administration and the collaborators has been challenging the traditional military-dominated nature of Enclave politics. While the military nominally eschews politics and claims the pre-war idea the military is under civilian control, since the fall of the Presidents on the East and West Coasts the military has run what was left of the Enclave. The local officer of a region or settlement is often the de-facto local authority: in theory they may be expected to support the occupational administration agencies, but in practice they do so at the discretion of the officer in charge. Some do it to the best of their abilities, some do it if convenient or persuaded (or bribed), and some dismiss or actively oppose the administration interfering with what they consider 'military matters,' such as running the occupation.

This has led to reoccurring friction with Governor Hans and the administration, which advocates the pre-war premise that the military should be under the control of the civilian government (ie, themselves). The Enclave military loathes the idea of being ordered by bureaucrats, especially wastelander mutants. Army-Administration conflict is what led to the creation of the National Guard, which reports to Hans and is considered subordinate to the civilian agencies. This has created its own competition and political fighting with the Army, which has sought to control the National Guard (and failed) and the State Police (succeeded). While Army-Administration frictions are common, they are generally bureaucratic rather than violent and generally resolved by compromise. Both the Hans administration and Enclave military enforce a strict and capital punishment on deliberate fratricide, though some rumors suggest that Hans has had a few of his more troublesome rivals assassinated by Belle. These rumors have yet to be substantiated despite repeated investigation.

Handling of Dissidents

In theory, freedom of speech is a protected right of all American citizens. In law, the only current citizens are pure Enclave. In practice, dissent is generally restricted when it isn't being suppressed. While implementation and operational feedback are encouraged ('wouldn't it work better if-'), political dissent against overall Enclave objectives and goals is suspect. The primary exception categories are the topics of citizenship and corruption. See social issues below for more.

Amongst the Pure Enclave and within the Administration, dissent has been suppressed by the general militarism of society: when on duty, it is generally cut off by the closest leadership, and in private it is something left behind closed doors with trusted friends and family. Dissent is not technically illegal, but discouraged in public.

Amongst the locals, who are not considered citizens at all, there is not even a pretense of free speech. Anti-Enclave rhetoric and propaganda quickly run afoul of military law, with punishments ranging from death for open sedition to beatings as a 'warning.' Residents who aren't pro-Enclave quickly learn to keep their mouths shut and complain about corruption (which is tolerated) rather than the society behind it.

The primary way for dissent to manifest in the Enclave is through graffiti and leaving night letters and seditious literature. This has multiple aspects. First, graffiti and littering go against the traditional Enclave fixation of tidiness and neatness. Given that a part of Governor Hans' political strategy is to present an appearance of repair and order, visual disorder is a means of personal and symbolic defiance. Functionally, vandalism and literature drops exploit Enclave manpower shortages and the limits of movement controls. It is generally easy to get away with. Tactically, placement can be used to target Enclave supporters and forces. Graffiti can be used to intimidate supporters by showing a presence near where they live, can be used against troops to target or lure moving patrols, and can be loaded with cultural in-meanings to pass messages only locals (but not Enclave soldiers) would understand. An example would be graffiti subtly referencing IEDs to warn off civilians from an ambush. Seditious literature drops can also be used not just to spread propaganda, but to false-flag someone as an Orleans supporter when they aren't: stashing seditious literature and then alerting the occupational authorities to turn them against a loyal collaborator.

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M: Military

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Organization

The Enclave Army and National Guard, while having separate chains of command, both align under standard US military ranking and organization systems. Teams are three to five people, squads around ten, led an NCO and often an officer. Since the fall of the east coast and the losses of the D.C. Campaign under Colonel Autumn, the highest rank in the local Enclave military is now 'Major.' There are two Major officers the Orleans area: the commanding officer of the Enclave Army, and the commander of the Orleans National Guard. In conflicts of authority at equal ranks, the Enclave Army officer is considered one rank higher than a National Guard counterpart. Due to a need for Army experience and loyalty in the guard, the military has brevet system for soldiers willing to go to the Guard: an Army Corporal could become a brevet Guard Lieutenant. This is less prestigious than an Army spot, but easier to achieve for the ambitious who want to pad their career and paychecks.

The Enclave Marines under Hans are a special case. They are considered a separate branch, and so follow their own chain of command through to the distant Marine Bunker leadership. The only part of the Enclave Army's chain of command they fall under is through Hans, and so in practice they are an independent element who will respect the rank and authority of the Army, but will maintain their own secrets regardless. Hans leaves the effective command of the Marines to his XO, a Marine Captain.

The Enclave is unique in following the Officer-NCO system, which splits responsibility between the officers, who plans missions and handles political policy, while the NCO supervises and manages the soldiers in the officer's absence. Where most militaries have a linear rank system and see NCO's promote to officer as natural rank progression, the Enclave has the officer and NCO ranks work in parallel throughout the career. The two-tier leadership structure provides redundancy to leadership losses and helps keep experience as the lower levels rather than leaving with the officers: an experienced NCO will balance out and mentor a younger leader, rather than seeing all experienced personnel leave the front lines for higher ranks. Only the Brotherhood of Steel has as stable and resilient a leadership system. For the Orleans and Blue Waters, killing the local leader is much more likely to weaken the unit. (In gameplay, an Enclave NCO will sustain an officer's buff and prevents unit panic even after the officer is killed.)

Recruitment (main and auxiliaries)

Enclave recruitment policy is largely voluntary. The Enclave does not practice a draft: in propaganda this is to distinguish themselves from Napoleon's draft and use of slave-soldiers (while equating the two), but in practice this is because estimates suggest that drafting the locals against their will would do more harm than good.

Drafting is also considered largely unnecessary: while the Army has a shortage of bodies (with a constant struggle with pure Enclave needed for their scientific/technical skills), the National Guard has a shortage of equipment. By offering better living conditions, regular pay, and basic medical care, plenty of impoverished wastelanders have signed up. Many, if not most, locals who join do so for stability and a lack of alternatives: they may not be particularly committed to the cause, but Napoleon's reputation for treating traitors is enough to make most think twice about deserting.

In times of major offenses or temporary weakness, the Enclave will supplement their numbers with mercenaries, both local and Blue Water. In contrast to Orleans, which will hire the Blue Waters only to attack the Enclave offensively, the Enclave tends to rely on its own offensive strength and hires mercenaries to supplement its defenses. It is rare, but not unknown, to see a PMC in Enclave territory pulling guard duty for this facility or that person.

Doctrine

Enclave military doctrine is centered around decisive offensive action: getting their best trained, best armed power armor troops in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, what the Enclave lacks is 'enough': enough power armored troops in enough of the right places. The Enclave Army is formidable, but unable to overcome the larger Orleans quagmire, and vulnerable to being worn down when committed.

The National Guard has come to serve the role as buffer and all-round support. The most common defenders, the most common patrollers, the National Guard does everything the Army does and is meant to take the brunt of the damage in the process. Political dynamics aside, militarily they exist to prevent the attrition of the Army: one power armor squad is easily worth a platoon if not a company, and even a crippled and wounded Army soldier is an extremely educated citizen that can serve the Enclave in a support capacity if recovered. National Guards are cheap- the truly dismissive Enclave purists would claim that the equipment is often worth more than the soldiers wearing it.

The Enclave strategy is effectively a Fallout attempt modern-day COIN (counter-insurgency). Governor Hans and the Enclave High Command know they intend to live here, and so they are trying to win minds, if not hearts, to gain acceptance (or resignation) from the locals that the Enclave is here to stay. Starting the civil administration and providing services, as opposed to just occupying, is their way to do that. The best way to convince them that you rule, is to govern.

Equipment

The Enclave has a well-established high-technology focus towards their gear. They have the most advanced sensors, the most prevalent computers, the most futuristic energy weapons and power armor. The Army has first claim to power armor and plasma weapons: the National Guard makes do with surplus laser weapons and whatever regular armor is available.

Equipment is issued and owned by the Enclave, not provided or owned by the soldier, and even modding government-issued weapons requires paperwork. Given the hassle involved, soldiers who would tend to buy their own weapons and mods out of their own pocket.

The most common luxury equipment associated with the Enclave military is the use of fans for airconditioning. Salvaged and repaired from common junk, a fan powered by a fission battery is the hot-sell item that marks the Enclave as a bit more advanced, a bit more civilized, and more importantly significantly cooler than the rest.

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E: Economic

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Currency and Income Distribution

The Enclave works largely as a wage economy in which payment is tied to one's position in the military/bureaucratic hierarchy. For non-formal employment, such as bounties for salvage or bounty hunting, rewards are varied by effort but tied to a fixed rate. The result of this is that there is relatively even income distribution, especially within the Pure Enclave, which underwent military communalism during the hard years. For government contracts (the most common kind) the government sets the wages and prices, not the market. Bartering within the Enclave is rare- the price you see is the price you'll get.

For a society that traces itself back to the pre-war hyper-capitalistic American government, the Enclave is the most state-controlled economy of the region. It bases its reconstruction/infrastructure strategy off of Three Year Plans, state-development goals and targets.

Consumption Patterns

The Enclave government is a major consumer of military gear to meet its constant supply shortages: it always needs more lasers, more plasma, and more power armor to equip and maintain its soldiers. It also runs the technology recycling program of the region, paying a bounty for salvageable tech.

Enclave civilians, pure and local, focus more on ensuring they have energy weapons, energy, and things to run on them. No self-respecting Enclave supporter would go around without at least a laser pistol, and pre-war technology is the best sort of status symbol. Buying your own robot servant, a repaired computer, a pipboy arm-computer, or a fan are all measures of success. You'll also need the power to run them, of course: where the Enclave doesn't run power, buying a generator or enough fission batteries will do.

The Enclave has the smallest drug problem of the three main factions. The pure Enclave is culturally dismissive of chem use, and this has rubbed off on the locals who are collaborating. Recreational chem use still occurs, but addiction is largely limited to poor residents. Enclave propaganda takes pride in the relative rarity of chems, and paints the pirates and Orleans as drug-dealers and addicts preying on the people. That said, Enclave scientists are also the most capable producers of chems in the region: mostly medical, but Enclave scientists wanting to make some money can easily turn to chem-making on the side. A particularly insidious one may even craftily sell destructive and addictive chems to the Orleans chem-addict market, to exploit the other side just a little bit more.

Industry and Employment

The Enclave has worked on recovering and reactivating pre-war factories of Cancer Alley. While creating brand new technology from scratch remains out of reach, the assembly lines have been reconfigured to repair and reassemble existing technology.

These factories, organized as state-owned corporations, are the largest industry in the region: people rely on these factories to pay them for bringing in the salvage materials, for repairing broken technology, and assembling the technology back together again. A job in the factory is treasured and coveted.

Between the factories, the salvage programs, the government jobs in the administration, and the national guard recruiting, the Enclave is the greatest employer in the region in terms of formal work. This system will leave if they do: should the Enclave be defeated and forced to withdraw, they have contingency plans to sabotage and destroy the infrastructure they have reclaimed, to deny it to Orleans. The Navigator may or may not be able to influence some of these scuttling efforts if they side against the Enclave.

Government involvement

Very high. While private commerce is not forbidden, the Enclave government owns and controls most of the capital. The government focuses on capital-heavy investments to produce more capital for further reconstruction and re-investment: restoring factories and power to restore more factories and power. Private economy is limited mostly to small merchants and people selling their services: there are no major economic interests outside the state.

Inter-factional Trade

The Enclave imports tech salvage for its factories, as well as power armor. The Enclave exports laser weapons, tech goods, and electricity. The Enclave's atomic plant is the primary power generator in the region, and is both a diplomatic and economic asset.

The Enclave permits traders to cross from other factions to Enclave territory, but insists traders register and purchase a permit, along with import/export taxes. This doesn't stop smugglers from sneaking goods in and out, but legitimate businesses have little to fear other than paperwork and taxes. The Enclave is relatively ambivalent about the business-side of the Blue Waters, which has had productive trade relations with the Enclave by bringing tech from afar.

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S: Social

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'How are problems solved?'

The solution to problems is through technology and the government. If there is problem, surely there must be a technological solution. If you need resources, request them through the bureaucracy. If you have an interpersonal problem with a person, talk to their boss and have them come down on them.

Enclave culture is authoritarian and relatively uninterested in diplomatic or mundane solutions. Bartering within the Enclave is rare, and the Pure Enclave have a reputation for being poor at it. Diplomacy is also limited by the clear hierarchies: if someone above you says do something, you are expected to do it, and someone below you can only ask for help and not demand it (unless the authority comes from higher). Non-technical or scientific solutions are something of a blindspot as well: a broken computer terminal to a locked door will warrant an electrical engineer to repair the system, rather than just rely on a physical lock. Replacing a cracked gun stock rather than duck tape it tight.

When the bureaucracy is too slow or dismisses a request, solutions are often contracted to single-issue actors. Either an Enclave person working on their own time, or locals who have organized to specialize in these contracts. A small but significant class of Enclave workers don't have permanent jobs but make a living by doing one-off contracts for solving problems the bureaucracy isn't fast enough for. Couriers, plumbers, self-taught electricians, and so on.

Identity, Values, Heroes, and Moral Authorities

The Enclave makes appeals to a pre-war standards of living and political liberty, without living up to them. Or rather, the Enclave claims that the immediate period of an occupation society is a necessity to get to that better future, and that after victory and preparation the Enclave will gradually usher back in pre-war values of democracy, rights, technology, and capitalism.

And America- especially America, which serves as a heroic golden age of the past and utopian future. An interesting culture blind spot of the Enclave is that they don't identify themselves as Americans in the present: even the Enclave calls themselves Enclave, and will generally only note or identify themselves as American citizens if you frame it that way specifically. In a sense, for everyone in the Enclave society identifying as an American citizen is a future-distant thing: for the pure Enclave it will be after victory and re-establishing a nation, and for aspiring residents pursuing citizenship it will be after the naturalization process and for their children. Both cases involve an immediate struggle towards a hopefully better future.

While political idealists exist and are supported and encouraged by the Hans administration, in practice the established values are of militaristic authoritarianism. Duty is probably the biggest one, along with Loyalty. Knowledge of History and Knowledge of Science are other prized traits, and are the basis for being recognized as something more than a primitive. From both pure Enclave and Residents, the Enclave wants intelligent, informed, and loyal supporters who will stick through thick and thin.

Enclave culture doesn't have much in the way of heroes, not outside of distant American history. The closest it has is the benevolent and infinite promise of Technology. Instead, the Enclave has historic demons: the threats and causes of past devastation. The Mutants and the Master, the Chosen One, the Lone Wanderer- these are the boogeymen used to frighten of the outside world, the reason why the Enclave needs to be stronger and safer than before. (The Lone Wanderer, if they followed through with President Eden's FEV scheme, is less than a total demon but still a terrifying figure even if his/her actions were vital for reclaiming D.C.)

The Enclave as a whole doesn't place much importance on moral value. Outside of idealists, it's a pretty utilitarian culture. For what moral authority does exist, the state is the general arbitrator of good and bad. Things that oppose the state are bad: things that support it are good.

Social Classes and Citizens

The primary social divisions are between Pure Enclave, Collaborators (Naturalizing Citizens), and Residents. The tendency to hold to general Enclave stereotypes goes up the closer to the top one goes: locals who aren't openly collaborating are more likely to break the norm than collaborators or pure Enclave.

Pure Enclave refers to the people who track their history through the Enclave conspiracy and survivors of the pre-war government of the United States. They are the only people considered Citizens, are the only ones who can serve in the Army (and thus allowed to have power armor and plasma), are the only ones who can vote in the Enclave elections, and control virtually all the institutions of Enclave-held Orleans. Virtually all Pure Enclave work for the Enclave government as soldiers, scientists, or administrators. When people refer to Enclave society, they are often referring to this group, the elite and upper class, and ignoring the Residents and Naturalizing Citizens.

Collaborators are the locals who are actively supporting the Enclave. Effectively second-class citizens, they get more perks and leniency than Residents, but stand to lose it if they screw up. They are relatively trusted by the Enclave, and provide the necessary manpower to work the factories and fight in the National Guard and administer the bureaucracy and otherwise keep the society running. Collaborators really willing to cast their lot in with the Enclave can apply for Citizenship- these are known as Naturalizing Citizens. While the naturalization process takes roughly two decades, it provides even greater perks and rewards for loyalty and is critical to rise in the Enclave hierarchy. Collaborators are allowed to freely carry laser weapons if they apply for a permit.

Residents are effectively everyone else local born, inside and outside of Enclave-held territories. They are the bottom class, do the bottom class work, and tend to endure the Enclave government when they aren't trying to avoid it. Viewed with suspicion and distrust, even neutral or apolitical wastelanders are viewed as potential Orleans supporters. The Hans Administration understands the need to target the Residents for active support, but generally the most the Enclave is able to do is deter support for Orleans. A consequence of this is that the Enclave grudgingly allows residents to keep and own ballistic weapons for their own protection- a gun confiscation crackdown would be too likely to stir active opposition to the Enclave.

Social Issues

The primary social issue of the Enclave is between purists and the idealists/reformers, and the topic of citizenship. The Enclave has promised citizenship as a long-term reward for supporters and collaborators, but is currently in a struggle to decide what that will actually mean in practice.

Purists are generally old-school Pure Enclave who value ideals of genetic purity by avoiding radiation mutations and miscegenation with the locals. These are the sort who view locals are mutants, and were the past supporters of genocidal policies. While the genocidal wing has been marginalized and discredited by prior failures, purists are now associated with strong anti-ghoul racism, opposing integration of the locals into the Enclave by status or marriage, and political opposition to Governor Hans (a key reformist). In practice, they want a clearly defined and stratified caste system based on the level of genetic/cultural purity. Pure Enclave Citizens on the top, using their superior knowledge and 'uncorrupted' humanity and American culture to properly (if not benevolently) civilize those below, with different classes for the collaborators (who could be honorary citizens, but never equal), the residents, and the ghouls and non-humans at the very bottom.

Purists advocate Citizenship as a tiered system, with restrictions and privileges associated with them. Pure Enclave would be Pure Citizens, but Collaborators would only be able to become Honorary Citizens. Miscegenation would be prohibited to preserve genetic and cultural purity of the Citizens, based on a two-fold argument. The argument for genetic purity rests on the idea that the old America can be retained best only by people as close to human as possible: genetic mutations will affect how people feel and think, and so only genetic purity allows one to hold the ideal American value. That ideal essence of Americanism is why cultural purity and separation between local-born Honorary Citizens and Pure Citizens is necessary: no matter how sincere they are in wanting to be American, local-born will be corrupted by the influences of their unAmerican upbringing. Carrying and maintaining that unpolluted essence of American culture will be the duty and responsibility of those who have never lost it, a tragic necessity for retaining America.

Naturally such a system and ideology mainly appeals to those towards the top, and so Purist sentiment is largely based within Pure Enclave and the military where it is significant but not dominant. There are a few local-born purists, who would accept never being able to be at the top in exchange for being able to lord over those below them (such as the chief of the State Police), but these are a minority of opportunists and anti-ghoul racists.

Idealists, or reformists if Pure Enclave, are the ones who believe that you don't have to part of the Enclave to be a part of the future America. While they tend to be associated with the pre-war idealism of liberty, the label of idealist is a bit misleading. Many are simply resigned to the idea that the Enclave can't bring about the change on its own: like it or hate it, they'll have to live with the locals and so it's better to work with them. Genetic purity is a lost cause, so focus on cultural survival. Doing so is the best chance to reclaim America, and can best improve the lives of the locals and thus convince them to support said return of America.

This is much more appealing and palatable to non-Pure Enclave than the Purist ideology, and so there is a very non-idealistic but practical quid pro quo at work. Pure Enclave Reformists offer concessions in exchange for local support, and so collaborator Idealists support said Reformist leaders in exchange for their own gains. This is danced around via rhetorical idealism, but how much anyone really believes it depends on the individual. The leader of the Reformists is Governor Hans.

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I: Information

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How is information spread?

The Enclave invests more in technological communication than everyone else combined. Dedicated radio towers, Eyebot receivers, and a growing network of restored computer terminals and networks makes digital communication very important to the Enclave, and preferred to alternatives of couriers and paper. Pretty much every settlement of note has transmitters, receivers, and a working computer. Enclave officers and squad leaders often have communication headsets, a valuable bit of salvage.

Who sends it out?

While people can hire couriers when the administration is slow or the objective is off the network, the government communications department handles most forms of official and non-physical communication. The Enclave Post Office leaves physical deliveries to Couriers, but is working on a sort of cyber-café office in which messages are transmitted digitally from office to office, and then people come in to sit at a computer and check for email.

What is considered important to talk about?

The Enclave society is focused on the ongoing nation-building, and so that is the most common topic. Enclave public radio would have Soviet-era propaganda themes, such as state production targets being met early and how progress is being made. Private conversation might talk about new opportunities to work for the Enclave, or ongoing Enclave crackdowns and actions. There are relatively few social or cultural topics of note: no Enclave-organized sports, culture shows, and so on.

The biggest topic of legitimate dissent isn't opposition to the war or Enclave goals, but corruption. In the bureaucratic minefields of the Enclave, corruption is the weapon and tool to use against your enemies. The Purists use widespread corruption by residents and collaborators as tools against Hans and the Reformists to argue that Locals can't be trusted to uphold the purity of the American Ideal. Reformists will use corruption by the Purists, especially violations of the Army, to remove targets from power and influence. Pure Enclave looks down strongly on corruption and will remove their own allies to save face and limit political damage, which makes the topic of corruption an avenue of legitimate dissent by locals. Instead of arguing sedition against the Enclave as a whole, residents can complain against individual bad actors as corrupt to raise grievances and seek compensation. It doesn't always work, but it is tolerated: trying to prohibit complaints of corruption would be considered evidence of corruption, and so Purists and Reformers alike will tolerate it unless it is clearly unfounded accusations.

* * *

I: Infrastructure

(SWEAT-MSO)

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Sewers

An Enclave strength. The Enclave works to restore plumbing in the areas under its control, improving hygene and civilization. Restoring the sewer network of Downtown Orleans and Gasoline Alley is a major improvement and could be an underground area for squatters and in-city refugees.

Water

The Enclave runs the primary water purifier in the region, as well as its other stations and technologies. Clean Water is rationed, but available for supporters.

Electrical

The Enclave is the most proactive user of electricity. It has restored the nuclear power plant, and has generators and fission battery technology mastered. Power is outstripped by demand, but is nearly always available for the military and administration centers.

Academic

The Enclave runs an institutionalized schooling system. Pure Enclave have some of the highest education standards on the planet, and the children of Collaborators are just beginning to be entered into Enclave education. A broader re-education system is also in place for local supporters: vocational and technical training is available to make people more valuable in their jobs, as well as political re-education to make new supporters out of the locals.

Trash

The Enclave's governance policies, and particular fixation for cleanliness and order by the Pure Enclave, make trash collection a service. Technological recycling is extensive, while the rest is composted or burned elsewhere.

Medical Facilities

The Enclave has the most advanced medical knowledge of the factions. Its resources are limited and prioritized to the Pure Enclave Citizens and trusted collaborators. It offers basic medical care for collaborators and the National Guard, but virtually nothing for residents.

Safety

Public safety is considered the duty of security forces. Robots or security eyebots are the primary and preferred form of public surveillance. The Enclave prioritizes using computer-controlled electronic locks over physical key locks.

Other Considerations

The Enclave is the most effective and most interested actor in restoring public infrastructure. It also makes a point of filling in road potholes and building cracks in the areas it controls- cosmetic repair is considered important in its own right, though this is restricted to the major population areas.

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P: Physical Terrain

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Terrain focus

The Enclave focuses on cleared and open terrain with high visibility and mobility, where its superior power armor and energy weapons are most effective. The Army tries to avoid being committed in close-quarters urban combat, where it is most prone to attrition.

Weather/climate effects

Rain and water diminish the effectiveness of energy weapons, which is why the Enclave Marines are the only Enclave force to use conventional weapons instead. During the annual storm season, Orleans forces try to make offenses during storms to take advantages to diminished technological advantages: this has a mixed success, with some major and key successes in the past during the initial conflict and some more recent disasters in which storm surges from a hurricane drowned much of an Orlesian army.

Trafficability

The Enclave prioritizes fast movement of the Army for its offenses. The National Guard is key to keeping response lanes open for Army reinforcements to respond to Orleans attacks. The ability for the Army to provide reinforcements is often key to whether or Orleans offensive against the National Guard can succeed.

Visibility

Visibility and high ground are priorities for the Enclave. While eyebot scouts serve in most cases, the Enclave uses observation posts in the skysrapers of the city and along the super highways to keep watch over large pieces of terrain from above.

Special equipment

The Enclave has vertibirds which allow them free movement outside the city. These are prized and nearly priceless, and so not risked outside secured areas, but allow the Enclave to bypass many of the terrain obstructions others have.

* * *

T: Time

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Dates of note

The Enclave still keeps some of the pre-war American Holidays. They would be some of the only to still recognize Christmas in its original meaning, rather than the bastardized wasteland evolutions. Otherwise, Federal Holidays are still recognized, usually as solemn days of the old world.

On top of the old holidays, the Enclave remembers East Coast Day and West Coast Day, the days of mourning and remembrance for their defeats on the East and West Coast.

Medium-term Concerns

The Enclave is wrestling with the issue of citizenship. In the next twenty years, collaborators and their children that have been promised citizenship will be granted it, legally allowing them the ability to vote as citizens. The Pure Enclave is wrestling with how this will affect their society and the goals and nature of the Enclave. As even the purists believe revoking the promise would spur riots and an uprising that would turn the population irredeemably hostile, the debate focuses between equal citizenship and a tier-based citizenship system.

Long-term goals

The Enclave's long-term goal is to use Orleans as a spring board for national reconstruction of America. Orleans is necessary to become an actual regional state that can compete with other rising nations, such as the NCR and Caesar's Legion and the Pitt, who now outclass the Enclave cabal on its own terms of military power.

Orleans was chosen as a mix of opportunity and strategic placement. The Bayou provides a buffer to outside invasion and interference while the Enclave establishes itself, while not preventing the Enclave from using Vertibirds to fly elsewhere in the country. The Mississippi River, once cleared, would provide a unifying trade route connecting the country to be, helping the Enclave overcome other geographic boundaries to expand outward from the center of the continent and towards either coast.

The Enclave's expansion post-victory would be more opportunistic than methodical, attempting to take strategic continental locations on the cheap rather than commit to expansion of a contiguous empire. Nodes of Enclave dominance would be tied together to dominate the in-between areas, rather than a creeping expansion of borders. This is a reflection of the limits of Enclave size and strength- it simply doesn't have the manpower or resources to commit to broad border expansion. When Orleans is pacified enough to recruit and spare significant numbers of local Orleaners, the Enclave would make real deliberations of trying to conquer other major cities that had yet to be pacified or civilized. While the tribal cities in the Bayou are likely targets, a more promising target of ambition would be westward into Texas and against Caesar's Legion. Between their own confidence in technological superiority and a brutally oppressed slave population that might be grateful to liberate, some long-range planners believe the Legion would be an easier conquest.

Manpower and resource shortages are the long-term dilemma for the Enclave. It already can't outright win a fight for a single organized city, and stands no chance against actual civilizations without a nation of their own. Future expansion will depend on capitalizing on the local population for manpower and resources, which will require significant changes within the Enclave.

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Author Notes:

Behold the power of a True Geek. Some people build models, others make maps of the Starship Enterprise, and I made a social analysis piece on my own fanfic (which is itself a giant world-building piece).

This sort of analysis, introduced by a friend, is one part privileged information, one part common sense, and a good deal of just organizing thoughts to the point that I realized new facts should be a result of them. One of the things about the Enclave that grew with iteration from this analysis was the role and importance of the Orleaners in the Enclave's occupation. It's one thing to think 'oh, the Enclave elite is obviously a minority,' but it's quite another to try and thing how the minority would work in practice- how would a beuracracy of pure enclave be able to service the entire occupation? So a major bureaucracy that is mostly run by Orleaners is something that may seem obvious in hindsight, but was reasoned thanks to listing other things in this.

All that said, official names for the factions bugged me, and I never could settle down. Is it the Orleans Empire, or the Empire of Orleans? The Blue Water Monopoly, or the Monopoly of Blue Waters? (Well, that one I actually did settle on.) But the Enclave was by far the worst, since there were different rationals for different points. The 'let's resurrect the pre-war America' theme would have suggested calling it 'the Gulf Coast Commonwealth'... but everyone identifies it with Orleans. 'The State of Louisiana' was better, but then the Fallout setting did away with the states when it moved to commonwealths. So it would be an anachronism... but perhaps one that served a purpose?

It was tricky. Different phrasings had different connotations. I wanted to call the Orleans Police (the Enclave's thugish enforcers) the Louisiana State Police, to tie into both the state idea and the, shall we say less than stellar reputation of Southern law enforcement? That would be deliberatly tied to some of the more racist and vile aspects of the Enclave?

Names are no fun. I often use placeholders instead of individualized names whenever I can get away with it. You can see a lot of the evidence of it in my use of place names. Very descriptive and functional, rather than vague about what is inside.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

One of the creepy-fun parts of thinking up the social dynamics of the factions was providing justifications for them- even their badder sides. Sometimes bad things can be justified by good reasons, like the Orleans slave trade of 'we need cheap labor to make everything livable'- they practice it, but they don't relish it and the guilty conscience has mitigating aspects as well. But sometimes it's hard to find any rational reason for something evil and illogical that seems more self-harming than anything else.

Racism is, well, hard to justify in a 'good' way that can be seen as making sense. It's a slippery slope, especially if the rational becomes so convincing that racism itself seems rational rather than incoherent and baseless. It's a seductive trap- especially as someone who dislikes 2D villainy and caricatures. Racism is subtle, insidious, and can be framed in so many ways that often it seems less discriminatory and more simple common sense.

Creating an ideological basis for the racist element of the Enclave was a challenge, and a ideology of evil I am a bit too proud to have made. It takes individual building blocks that could, from a distance, seem to have some good bit of truth to them, and then forms a chain that links initial good intentions to horrific actions. It's not 'muties are gross and must die', but a somber and even tragic resolve of 'there are aspects of human goodness that can only even potentially be preserved by a pure human, and for that mutants must not be allowed to corrupt the purity of the concept.' Wastelanders aren't denied democratic equality because their biology, but because their biology is incompatible with the original and purist form of democratic equality.

It blends the biological with the ideological, and hopefully in a way that you can understand other people believing, even if you yourself don't. You aren't supposed to agree with them, but they hopefully won't 'just' be racist thugs if you look at the ideology.

On a tangential note related to ideology, it still makes me laugh each time at how... un-American the Enclave is a faction. Both Orleans and the Blue Waters can make much stronger cases for having re-created traditional American cultural aspects such as liberalism, capitalism, and broad personal freedoms with minimal government influence. In contrast, the Enclave runs more like a military-communal state: pretty much everything valuable of note is owned and/or doled out by the government, from housing to most jobs. The biggest flaw with the Enclave hardliner claim of 'preserving America' is that, well, they're further away from it than anyone else.

Just an amusing observation.


	50. PMESII-PT: Orleans

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

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Fallout: Orleans

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PMESII-PT

A useful and structured framework for analysis used to organize and analyze environments and build situational and social understanding. PMESII-PT stands for Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Terrain, and Time. These factors are looked at in broader terms to identify the important dynamics and structures of large groups.

What follows is a relatively short analysis of the three main factions. I say 'relatively' because a truly in-depth analysis could be dozens of pages each.

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Orleans PMESII-PT

'The Orleans Empire'

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P: Political

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Social Structure

Orleans is a society in transition away from a liberal republic city-state and towards a more feudal, nationalistic empire with dreams of expansion across the region. Between the war and Napoleon's own desires, republican institutions are fading or changing to be replaced by more autocratic, nationalistic endeavors supporting Napoleon's war and ambitions. Despite this, the limited bureaucracy and resources have left most social organization where it has always been- with individuals forming groups and voluntary associations to address local problems. The First Consul's renaissance and cultural enlightenment still have significant influence in Napoleon's domain, leaving an egalitarian tint and influence to a society with a rising nobility.

Leadership

The unquestioned leader of Orleans is Napoleon. Through ability, intrigue, a patronage network, and winning the public through charismatic nationalism, Napoleon has no equals or rivals. Those Napoleon does not control personally she has led into competing for her support and favor, channeling those politics into national interests. As a way to reward success, bestow favor, and reorganize a relatively egalitarian and classless society in a more manageable direction, Napoleon has introduced an explicit nobility system of rank and influence, based on the Napoleonic Empire, which goes from Empress (Napoleon) to Dukes, Counts, Barons, and Knights. Citizens are the base layer, with slaves beneath it all until they become citizens.

Aside from being a capable (if not as impressive as her propaganda suggests) military leader, Napoleon's greatest leadership strength is her ability to recognize, cultivate, and promote extremely capable subordinates. Loyalty is expected, but will only get you so far. Napoleon's inner circle is composed of capable ministers who run the day-to-day management of Orleans. Each minister has an area of focus and substantial autonomy, with Napoleon acting as oversight and occasionally interjecting (and interfering) when a particular issue or actor catches her eye. Napoleon's attention is the quickest way to rise in favor, or the surest way to fall from grace.

Political Divisions

Orleans politics is centered around its reaction to Napoleon's rise and the transformation towards empire. Socially and politically the divide is between Imperialists and Republicans. Imperialists are those who support the transition to an empire of strength and ambition, while Republicans are those who are opposed to giving up the First Consul's ideals and vision. The Republicans have already lost the political struggle with the rise of Napoleon and the Enclave invasion, and instead are fighting to preserve as much of the social culture as they can. This manifests in opposition to the rising nobility system, with Republicans supporting private associations and groups of citizens to circumvent, ignore, and in some cases delegitimize the nobility.

The Imperialists, having won the transition to empire, have turned to other concerns. While some compete for influence and rank, others are indifferent about the nobility or even support the Republican egalitarianism. Napoleon's favor and influence keeps such squabbles largely pointed in the right direction, against the Enclave and for Orleans, but political infighting exists in a subdued form. It would be incorrect to cite infighting as a major weakness for Orleans, but certainly maneuvering for rank and to be credited with victory have been a negative influence. Napoleon comes down very, very harshly on those who would sacrifice an Orleans victory of another for their own political squabbles.

Handling of Dissidents

Having largely succeeded in stirring nationalist passions in her favor and against the Enclave, political dissent is often couched in nationalist and republican rhetoric against acceptable targets- the Enclave and the pirates, traitors supporting them, and the failings of the nobility. With the exception of Napoleon herself, dissent is officially tolerated and tends to be tolerated or discouraged as the social level. Expressing un-Orleans sentiment is a way to being socially ostracized, and informal punishments from private citizens for the crime of insufficient nationalism tend to be ignored by the guards so long as they don't get out of hand.

Aside from rumors, gossip, and simple socializing, dissent can be expressed through art and culture. Paintings, poetry, and even statues can be crafted with hidden meanings and obscure insults. A painting of Napoleon in the Orleans art gallery, for example, modeled after an actual painting of Napoleon at Waterloo, was given to the Orleans art gallery after Napoleon led a major military defeat. Ordering an offensive during a hurricane in attempt to take the Enclave by surprise, something that had been a major victory in a desperation gambit earlier in the war, it was a disaster and nearly saw an end to the stalemate. Few people would understand the reference to Waterloo, but for those who do it was an open condemnation of Napoleon's military competence.

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M: Military

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Organization

The Orleans military organization is informal and loosely organized, a reflection of the expected high rate of attrition and lack of tactical control. Modeled off of Napoleonic organization, including calling their Generals 'Marshals' and having a French emphasis on military ranks and terms, there is a relatively high ratio of soldiers to leaders. Where the Enclave practices down to the squad-level tactic, the organized Orleans military rarely execute lower than a platoon (called a company). This is because Orleans soldiers are considered too unorganized, ill-trained, and expected to die to benefit from lower-level leadership- mass numbers and attrition are expected to be keys to victory. Span of control is high in part because casualties are expected to bring numbers down by the time soldiers get within range of the Enclave to actually do damage.

The major exceptions to this are Grenadiers and patriot officers. Both are given freedom to move around with a team and expected to position themselves and take command at decisive points as needed. The Grenadier is equipped to take out a hard point and blunt an enemy's strength, while patriot officers are meant to rally the soldiers and hold a stalwart defense or lead a sudden charge. Both are intended to provide contextual leadership at a moment's notice, without being tied to one position. How well this works in practice is a separate issue.

Outside of formal organization for deliberate operations, Orleans does practice smaller unit tactics in the context of insurgency warfare and resistance. Local militia, skirmishers, and ambush parties break the mold and do whatever works for them. Grenadiers in particular are known for leading teams deeper in Enclave territory for sabotage and ambush missions. Bayou operations also require smaller groups for patrols and insurgency.

Recruitment (main and auxiliaries)

Orleans practices both conscription and using slaves and prisoners as soldiers and laborers. Citizens, generally conscripted for several months before being allowed home on rotation, provide the majority of the army. Off-rotation citizens form the local militia for immediate defense. Volunteers are slotted into the lower leadership ranks of corporal as an incentive to voluntary joining so late into the war. By contrast, slave-soldiers and laborers work yearlong, but earn a right to be rotated to another duty station after a year. Leadership in the officer corps can come from merit of senior enlisted, but the practice of buying an officer commission is also common: raising up your own unit and providing the equipment for one is a basis for becoming an officer. Some units only exist because a few wealthy backers went into the Bayou, hired tribals and mercenaries and slaves to form a new unit, and returned to claim an officer commission. Desertion rates are mitigated by relatively short terms of rotations, and by an informal practice of letting soldiers get addicted to Orleans-made chems and drugs.

Orleans gets regular fresh blood from outside the city via tribal allies and slave shipments. The difference can be blurred at times, but there has been a regular slave trade and tribal reinforcements since the war started. Between the reputation and allure of Orleans culture (especially for ghouls), favorable conditions for slavery by wasteland standards, and a successful record of indoctrinating and assimilating wastelanders into Orleans culture, Orleans has a significant foreign-born population bearing arms for Napoleon.

Orleans has a cultural hatred of the pirates, local and Blue Water affiliates. Instead of hiring them to join forces with Orleans troops as part of an offensive, Orleans typically pay pirates to act as raiders behind Enclave lines. Orleans views mercenaries as disposable and tools to disrupt enemy terrain.

Doctrine

Orleans doctrine focuses on mitigating their own disadvantages in armor and long-ranged weapons. With Orleans having few energy weapons and mostly traditional shotguns and hunting weapons, they lack ranged power to pierce power armor at range. Instead Orleans focuses on getting to grenade range, where grenades and rifles can pierce armor more easily. Understanding this is why Napoleon held in the city, rather than surrendering the city to retreat to the Bayou when the Enclave was invading. Between urban terrain and superior numbers, Orleans was able stop the Enclave offensive.

With enough soldiers in her half of Orleans to block an Enclave blitz, she is left free to use the rest in insurgency warfare to wear down the Enclave army. Napoleon has focused her insurgency against the Enclave military and citizens, rather than intimidation campaigns against even passively accepting residents just trying to live and working at factories. Open collaborators are occasionally made an example of, but Napoleon understands that the Enclave will pull out due to losses of Enclave citizens, not collaborators. Napoleon also has ambitions about capturing the Enclave-repaired infrastructure once the Enclave is driven out, and so has limited sabotage efforts to the Enclave infrastructure as well.

With a strategic goal of attrition against the Pure Enclave to lead to an Enclave withdrawal, Napoleon is content with accepting a prolonged low-level attrition conflict with losses she can generally sustain by bringing in tribal allies, foreign slaves, and rotating conscription. She believes she weakens the Enclave core faster than it gathers public support and legitimacy, and sees her gradual buildup of an experienced military base and allies (and potentially captured Enclave infrastructure) as making a delayed victory an even better springboard to post-war expansion and empire.

Equipment

Orleans equipment is poor and primitive, but potent. Hunting rifles and shot guns are mixed with crafted and salvaged grenades. Orleans has little combat armor, but plenty of dye- soldiers are colorfully equipped with inferior leathers. Orleans has a strong (and deliberate) theme to Napoleonic era uniforms and appearances.

Basic weapons will be issued by the government to slaves and volunteers without them, but most weapons are personally owned by the family providing the soldier. When a fallen soldier is recovered, it is customary to send their shotgun back to the family rather than take it to the government armory.

Orleans is the only faction that makes chems and stimulants a part of their standard issue: soldiers are issued a regular ration of alcohol, locally-brewed chems, and other addictive boosters that keep the soldiers happy and high as much as more ruthless on the battlefield and more loyal for their next fix. Chem use and addiction are prevalent across the military, and often used to cope for war stress. As a result, veteran soldiers off-rotation have introduced a major chem addiction problem to wider Orleans society.

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E: Economic

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Currency and Income Distribution

Orleans has a formal currency but remains largely a barter economy. While the government pays in wood chips, it accepts taxes in goods and services. Private dealings are also frequently as much barter as caps changing hand. Income equality is exceptionally high as a result: the nobility and rich have the money to spend and spread around, while a lot of the lower classes work for pittance past room and board. Nobles, who typically run the plantations and businesses, monopolize the profits.

Consumption Patterns

Orleans' primary demands are manpower, and expendables for that manpower. Non-human capital is rare. Orleans also has a constant and unique interest in colorful pigments and paints for buildings and the regionally distinct emphasis on costumes.

Lacking a technology base, Orleans uses large amounts of manual labor to get things done: clearing roads and rubble, building fortifications, running plantations, hand-crafting the bombs and chems and uniforms for the war effort, being servants and butlers. Despite having the most manpower in the region, Orleans always wants more. And it needs more to supply those bodies as well: more food, more clothes, more crafting components, and a lot more drugs to help keep life bearable. Orleans is very much a pre-industrial society, with less interest into technology as a status symbol. The elite would prefer to invest in better status symbols, such as art and painted homes and clothes or costumes, a cultural renaissance starting with the First Consul that remains in effect.

Orleans has a major drug culture, a mix of the many options from the Bayou and the social effects of the war and chem use by the troops. Drug use is prevalent with very little opposition, feeding the addiction with more addiction. Drug use in the military ranges from the ambivalent to exploitative: Orleans makes a variety of addictive, locally-produced drugs available to slaves and conscripts for cheap. As the primary distributer is the Orleans military itself, many would struggle to get their fix if they left. Drugs are over-prescribed for a number of ailments: pain, distress, anxiety, war stress, and so on. The addictions aren't nearly as bad and crippling as old-world chems, but drug junkies without moderation are an issue.

Orleans has a cultural fixation on bringing color to dull surroundings. Where the Enclave fills in potholes and plasters over walls with bland filling, Orleans will paint the debris and cover cracks with cloth. Costumes are a major part of Orleans holidays and celebrations for all ages, and could be considered analogous to having a nice set of clothes. Costumes run a gauntlet of styles and sophistication, but everyone aspires to have at least one. For dressing up buildings, on the other hand, Orleans likes to go with fresh paint and dyed fabrics. Bayou plants and concoctions can make basic paints and dyes, which have been used to give parts of the post-apocalyptic city a fresh paintjob that livens up if not hides the damages. Currently only the wealthiest can afford to repaint their homes, but public places like Bourbon Street make a point of attracting people with their bright colors and hues.

Industry and Employment

Before the war Orleans had a flourishing shipbuilding industry, refurbishing pre-war car nuclear engines into boat engines for river boats and ocean-faring ships under construction, but the Enclave disruption and pirate occupation of the shipyard have rendered that moot. Since then, Orleans generally lacks conventional industry. It does have a good deal of cottage industry, of people who buy components and hand-craft the finished products. Orleans is probably one of the few places where the amateur IED factory or meth lab is considered a patriotic cottage industry to support the government.

There is also always a need for manpower to get the components. The most formalized are the plantations, where bayou crops are tended and harvested in wet and dry marsh alike. Informally, private hunters and gatherers go deeper into the bayou for rarer, more dangerous finds.

In the sense that raw manpower is always in demand, Orleans has low unemployment. Nobles and the rich are always interested in servants, if you don't feel up to the labor gangs or work crews. That said, profitable employment is rare: a lot of jobs are low-paying and don't do much more than put food in the belly. Becoming rich requires taking risks, not patiently saving up.

Unlike other societies, there is no major agriculture industry or lobbying group in Orleans. Orleans has no equivalent to the 'Brahmin Barons' of the NCR. The bayou's encroachment and reliance on hunter-gatherers in the bayou limited the rise of economic consolidation: small groups and guilds formed, but no unifying interest group was able to establish itself. While a significant amount of dry marsh was recovered by the First Consul's western reclamation campaign, the war and Enclave occupation pre-empted the rise of a major land-owner class. The greatest economic consolidation class is the emerging plantation class, the nobility selected by Napoleon to manage and oversee the plantation systems.

Government involvement

Orleans has a limited amount of economic intervention. Napoleon's direction has identified and established industries of importance, which are contracted by the government. It also has various labor regulations and dictates, including the treatment of slaves, acceptable wages and wages in kind, and quality control. It does not seek or attempt to set the market prices for goods, however, and leaves the handling of most businesses to the private merchants or nobility tied to them.

Because the government's resources and bureaucracy are limited, most economic organization is done at the local/small business level. With no major corporate interests, the largest business ventures would be family chains, partnerships or alliances of relatives across the area. Small merchant guilds and partnerships exist as well and help maintain standards, but no hierarchy has been able to establish itself yet.

Inter-factional Trade

Orleans imports slaves and exports crafted goods. Due to Napoleon's disapproval of foreign dependence to enemies, Orleans imports virtually nothing from the Enclave: the Enclave's power grid doesn't even connect to the French Quarter, and buying energy weapons is disapproved of if not outright forbidden. Medicine is privately purchased, but only on small scale. Napoleon despises the pirates even more than the Enclave, seeing them as both opportunistic jackals and key enablers of the Enclave, but needs the slave trade too much to refuse to deal with them.

Instead Orleans sells its crafted goods to the Blue Waters who sell them elsewhere. Orleans drugs are still addictive, but less destructive than pre-war chems. The monopoly of sales to the Blue Waters was done in exchange for a significant discount on slave imports.

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S: Social

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'How are problems solved?'

Problems are solved by people. Someone, somewhere, knows how to fix it, and can be persuaded. It may a persuasive argument, or striking a quid-pro-quo. If you need more help, get more people: friends, family, anyone you can persuade. And if you have an interpersonal problem with someone, work it out direct- either by talking, or meeting them at the field of honor.

Orleans is increasingly autocratic, but far from bureaucratic. The state is absent or minimally present at most levels of society, and so voluntary associations of friends and like-minded peoples are the primary means for organizing collective effort. A cultural dynamic of the city predating even the First Consul, most Orleans societies and institutions of note can trace their origins to private associations. With no history of meaningful government, few expect the government to solve their problems. While the state serves as a source of order and arbitration, it is too overstretched and distracted by the war to care about entitlements or social services and similar individual interests.

Given that the state only addresses major issues of collective interest (defense and security, public work projects, colonization and reclamation projects), individual issues are generally considered individual problems. Aside from arbitration, it is up to an individual to find a solution, generally through friends and families and those voluntary associations. If it is a matter of resources, though, the main choice an individual often has is to appeal to the nobility. These rich local leaders have established extensive patronage networks, and often have the wealth and connections to solve a problem… but whether they will, and what they ask for in exchange, depends entirely on the noble in question. These nobility, with Napoleon's support, have begun to stratify Orleans society, but as a new class they still face considerable skepticism and even disdain.

Identity, Values, Heroes, and Moral Authorities

Liberté, égalité, fraternité. Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood. Those were the key principles the First Consul intended to use when creating the Orleans nation in the model of ancient France. While Napoleon has since tried to discard or distort the meaning of Equality, those values remain the rallying cry of Orleans. (Or, as they might identify themselves, Orleaners.) The First Consul's intent was to create an idealistic republic out of the morass that was the city before unification, and in doing so he wanted to emphasize commonality between the differing tribals and families that had struggled for so long. It wasn't as successful as he might have hoped- too many followed the bloodline rather than the ideals- but ties of family are the fourth great value of Orleans, and one of its many appeals to tribals. An appreciation for art and color isn't quite a value, but common enough to be a significant trait.

Unification was an unthinkably difficult task, and the First Consul's success at it is why he is the Founding Father of Orleans and the Gulf Coast. His name is synonymous with intelligence, diplomacy, and benevolent civilization, and his winning over of so many groups and making such key gains for everyone via his scientific developments establish him as the Founding Father of Orleans society and culture. While the First Consul's ascent and unification weren't quite as costless and self-driven as the Orleans narrative suggests, with the Mason conspiracy of local leaders and influence-brokers being indispensable to his success, it remains an honestly impressive feat by any measure.

By virtue of her ties to her father, Napoleon is the premier moral authority figure of Orleans culture. She emphasizes the more militaristic values her father espoused but didn't emphasize: of loyalty and bravery and martial values. Under her, the military has become admired and romanticized in its own right. Napoleon controls the propaganda and public arts about what is right and wrong, but private artists and local leaders and respected citizens have far more influence and sway in resolving disputes than the nobility she has created.

Social Classes and Citizens

The nobility is a development of Napoleon's in her attempt to gain more levers of influence and control over the Orleans citizens. Napoleon's view of the Republic was that while the underlying Orleans culture was admirable, the Republic itself was unwieldy: too many checks and balances against what should and needed to be done. Instead of herding tens of thousands of cats herself, Napoleon created the nobility to do it for her: raising her allies and supporters to influence, rewarding proven and capable citizens, or just recognizing established and already influential people, they are intended to be intermediaries between herself, a limited government, and the citizens.

The nobility is appointed by Napoleon, and generally responsible for a certain area of terrain. With the exception of Knights, who can be land-less 'honorary' as a reward for military officers and honored/successful citizens, a noble is given authority over a strip of land and the people who live and work there. A noble is in charge of collecting taxes, gathering conscripts, adjudicating disputes, keep order, receiving citizen complaints and concerns, resolving citizen concerns formally and informally, and organizing a public defense to support the military. Basically most of the functions of government, but on a less formal level. In exchange, the nobility is given various rights and privileges, including keeping some of the taxes, being above many of the mundane laws, having a right to request pardons for their citizens, having preference in disputes with lower nobility/citizens, and status and prestige. The Nobility are encouraged and enabled to set up patronage networks amongst themselves and their non-nobility allies and subordinates so that citizens can look to them for more expensive problems, rather than the Orleans government.

This is obviously prone to building a separate power base of self-interested, which is why Napoleon works to make the nobility dependent on her good graces and support. What Napoleon giveth she can also take away, requests from nobles for pardons or state/military support come to her, and while she is careful about removing nobility she is able to do so, especially on grounds of ineptitude or harming the public. Higher levels of nobility are held responsible for policing lower levels of nobility: the corruption and abuses of a lower level noble, if brought to the attention of Napoleon and the government, can see both the offender and their superior removed for the crime.

By making the nobility responsible for many of the unpopular practices of government, including conscription and taxation, and by protecting dissent aimed against the failings of the nobility and punishing those found to be abusing their position, Napoleon is able to use the nobility as a lightning rod to avoid unpopular attention herself. Napoleon is just as fond of playing the public against the nobility as she is the nobility against each other, which has helped her prevent the rise of an oppositional group. Napoleon understands the risks of an entrenched nobility, but feels the benefits of a less stable nobility are worth it in exchange for fewer and more easily directed political subordinates.

One of the reasons the land-based nobility system has been able to be established without people moving away is because Orleans remains a very stationary society. There is very little migration, and no major nomadic groups that can pick up and walk away. Before unification, this was because the city, as the only major island of safety in the radioactive bayou, was strictly divided by the rubble mountains and competing clans and neighborhoods at odds with each other. With the city at maximum capacity, leaving one's area meant becoming a migrant in the bayou, a prospect with an even shorter life expectancy. Even after unification where moving to another neighborhood is legal, most Orleaners would prefer to stay in their own familiar neighborhood no matter who rules. This has made it easier for land-oriented nobility to track the people they are responsible for, even without a bureaucracy. Everyone knows everyone else on the street, and probably have for life.

The nobility system broadly works on the order of Empress, Duke, Count, Baron, Knight, each with a wider order of terrain they are responsible for. Napoleon, as the Empress, claims all of the Orleans sphere of influence. Napoleon hands out ranks of nobility as rewards, but the responsibilities and ownership of the nobility in question depend on the context. Actual land and influence is limited by already existing nobility, so one of the tricks she uses is to award titles and land to territory she doesn't control yet. Enclave territory in particular is a common promise of future reward to military-nobility: should they survive and win the war, much of the Enclave territory and prizes have already been allocated. Of course, collecting will require they win the war, which helps keep them focused in the right direction.

Dukes are given control over Parishes, which are the equivalent of counties (and make a Duke a mayor) which are the largest administrative units of Orleans. Dukes are the most powerful politicians under Napoleon, and can set military strategy and policy in an area on the level of the local Marshal (General) The size of a dukedom varies: major parts of the city would have their own, such as the Duke of the French Quarter, while there is only one Duke of Slidell. Large segments of the bayou and outside terrain would have a Duke, even if there was no real Orleans presence: in these cases the Duke is responsible for cultivating alliances with tribals or running influence operations in occupied territory. Enclave-occupied Baton Rouge still has a duke, though the position is more honorary for a retired officer than an actual position. Dukes would be exceptionally limited, with maybe fifteen in total.

Counts are smaller in scale, in charge of individual neighborhoods or a small settlement. The Count is the mid-level nobility who administers justice, runs the local police, and can be reasonably expected to know at least the major names and families of the people and troublemakers in their area. While the Count administers justice and coordinates with the military presence in the area, their primary task is to keep the Barons and Knights in order and on track. They are often the primary coordination between the state government and the local level nobility.

Barons are often seen as the first 'real' nobility, or at least the ones with power. Barons are either local leaders of small neighborhoods, the most famous being the Baron of Bourbon Street, or specialists in charge of an institution. A Baron might be compared to a school principal, having dozens of families under their purview, or be in charge of a plantation, or a local work project or two. Barons tend to collect the taxes, either personally or through their knights, which makes them very influential in determining the local business climate.

Knights are the lowest class of nobility. Their powers are the most limited, and their responsibility the lowest: a knight might be in charge of a single street, or is often the enforcer of the higher nobility in some project or task. Knights might be in charge of running a particular piece of infrastructure, like a toll bridge, or leading police, or knocking on doors to collect taxes or conscripts. Their reputation is mixed, not least because Knights are the most common type of honorary nobility used as rewards for distinction, given the rank but no responsibilities associated with them. Napoleon encourages a romanticized vision of the abilities and moral character of Knights.

Being a new and young institution, there has yet to be a functionally hereditary nobility: appointments by Napoleon are for life unless removed, but the question about whether one's children will inherit the position is up in the air and for debate. Arguing against a hereditary nobility is the primary cause of the Republicans, and remains an achievable goal for them.

Social Problems and Concerns

Orleans has a drug problem: that's the long and short of it. Prevalent chem use by soldiers, for combat purposes and to deal with stress, has left a great number of addicts and not much hope for anything but mitigating the costs of addiction. Orleans provides drugs to the soldiers serving, but off-cycle veterans and soldiers not currently being conscripted are forced to feed their own habit. Drug dens exist across the city as both shops and social hang-outs of ill repute, looked down upon worse than brothels.

Public health is a separate problem, but not as a social issue of concern. Between radiation, pollution, and the Bayou, Orleans lives are short even by Wasteland standards. Reaching fifty is considered very, very old. While living standards and life spans have risen since unification, they remain short in comparison to most other civilized societies. As everyone expects this, however, it is considered the nature of life and not a cause of social unrest.

Otherwise, disagreement and dissatisfaction with the nobility system is a constant but minor running sore. While the nobility is the effective interface with the government, many Orleans residents dismiss or dislike what they see as fellow citizens getting high and mighty over them. This doesn't translate into anti-state or anti-Napoleon sentiment, but there is a widespread current of schaedenfreud whenever a noble is brought low by common criminals. Some nobles act as responsible and admired local leaders, but others are just dismissed by the people they are supposed to lead.

* * *

I: Information

* * *

How is information spread?

The primary means to spread information is the verbal rumor mill. Orleans information is notorious for being exaggerated and unreliable, albeit usually with then nugget of truth. Orleans propaganda, by radio or news paper, is similarly exaggerated, and much less common. Radios are relatively rare in Orleans territory: rather than be a common household item, they would tend to be in stores and social areas to be shared by many.

Orleans has an appreciation for the visual arts, including graffiti. Orleans rabble-rouses, youths, and insurgents often use graffiti to communicate in Enclave-traveled territories, using indecipherable slang to pass messages and post defiance.

Who sends it out?

Anyone and everyone in Orleans is considered a source of news. While Orleans does run a propaganda paper and radio, these just as exaggerated as the gossip mongers and not considered authoritative. They serve to confirm what is already being rumored, rather than being the information authority.

What is considered important to talk about?

The rumor mill likes to talk about what's hot, and for many that can be the latest art showings, the latest news from the front (especially the casualties), and the latest scandals that put the nobility in a bad light. War news focuses on the casualties between the Enclave and Orleans, and is as much a guessing game as anything else given the notoriously unreliable nature of the news. A basic rule of thumb for Orleans exaggerated numbers is to divide by ten, and add seven to figure out the more likely sort of scale. If the radio claims forty Enclave soldiers were killed in a major victory, it was probably a squad or two of national guard wiped out by an ambush.

* * *

I: Infrastructure

(SWEAT-MSO)

* * *

Sewers

Orleans has no plumbing system. Waste is thrown into the canals, some of which were carved from the pre-war sewers in the rebuilding effort. Orleaners are accustomed to the smell, but non-locals often buy perfumed masks (or just perfume) to help cover the stench.

Water

Water is locally drawn and generally dirty, especially in the city where it is drawn from the same canals that boats and trash go through. While the First Consul created basic purification systems, such as punga fruit stations, to help clean water, the primary sanitation for water is boiling it. Pure water is imported from the Enclave purifier via Blue Water traders, and generally the drink of choice of humans who can afford it.

Electrical

Orleans has virtually no power grid, with the Orleans-occupied city cut off from the Enclave power grid. Fission batteries and generators are the primary means of power for lights, and generally very rare. Any connections to the Enclave power grid are private efforts, not sanctioned by the government.

Academic

Orleans runs a basic education system. While it does have a university, most education is up to a middle-school level and is dominated by Orleans history and regional survival skills. The Orleans university has more advanced specialization in chemistry, for finding new uses for bayou resources, and astronomy, intended for the since-hampered Orleans navy.

Trash

Trash is composted in the Bayou. Anything that can't be recycled or salvaged will be thrown into city dumpsters. Slaves will carry and ship the garbage to dumps in the bayou, where bog beasts and marsh will eventually consume it all.

Medical Facilities

Orleans has very little in the way or state medical care past hospital tents for soldiers. The primary care providers are private house-doctors who service a particular neighborhood. Orleans society has been conditioned to accept the premise of a short life being brought down by illness from radiation and pollution. Living to age 40 is considered exceptional and rare: as a result, long-term health impacts and concerns (like cancer) are extremely under-recognized or cared about. Medical care is often about making the inevitable more comfortable, rather than prolonging an already short life.

Safety

Everyone is responsible for their own safety and security. While police will chase after thieves, and soldiers will keep order, the primary protections are whatever physical locks, guards, and protections an individual can come up with.

Other Considerations

Despite having come a long ways in basic livability, Orleans is a very poor and extremely basic infrastructure society. It lives in largely pre-electrical conditions. Public health, standards of living, and general life expectancy suffer as a result. Despite this obvious weakness that the Enclave attempts to exploit, patriotic Orleaners take a perverse sort of pride in having created a society in such poor conditions, seeing the difficulties of life that make their lives so short as the same factors that make them strong. Orleaners see themselves as analogous to a Bayou flower: a short burst of color and energetic life before withering and dying.

* * *

P: Physical Terrain

* * *

Terrain focus

Orleans focuses on restrictive, enclosed terrain where their short-range weapons and grenades have maximum effect and where there is more cover to compensate for a lack of armor. In the bayou and other areas, Orleans will attempt to make the most use of concealment to launch ambushes.

Weather/climate effects

Orleans favors the wet and stormy season, which affect the Enclave more than them. Rain is a double-edged sword for Orleans- it can decrease the effectiveness of Enclave energy weapons, but can also ruin Orleans grenades if they get soaked from poor storage. Orleans greatest military victory against the Enclave, and its worst defeat, came from launching major offensives against the Enclave during hurricanes.

Trafficability

Orleans is the faction least dependent on good roads. As long as a person can climb over it, it's considered good enough. The Orleans military is more interested in making terrain impassible than in opening it up, and they'll use any range of mines, structural sabotage, and ambushes to trap Enclave forces and sabotage Enclave roads.

Visibility

Rather than clear lines of visibility for all, Orleans will rely on spotters across the city and area to raise the alert when Enclave forces move. Orleans spotters aren't against using the highest vantage point for maximum view, but tend to be more concerned with something with enough cover to hide from eyebot patrols overhead.

Special equipment

Orleans has a significant fleet of river boats for moving across the bayou. These flat-bed boats have no built-in weapons or armor, but can be picked up and carried by the soldiers to enhance maneuverability. Any fighting that needs to be done will be waged by the men on the boat.

* * *

T: Time

* * *

Dates of note

Orleans holidays are tend to be festive celebrations, days of sanctioned good cheer and revelry with a wealth of booze, hand-rafted fireworks, and music across the city. Most holidays still practiced during the war are national holidays, but a few pre-unification holidays are still respected. Due to how many Orleans sympathizers are in Enclave territory, the Enclave usually focuses on security operations during Orleans holidays, and will tolerate celebration of the non-national ones.

The national holidays are propaganda-heavy celebrations of Orleans since unification.

Unification Day, akin to the 4th of July, marks the day the First Consul established the City Assembly to mark the start of the Republic of Orleans. The most popular holiday of civic pride.

Founder's Day, the analog to Presidents day, celebrates the First Consul's founding of the Republic and, more recently, Napoleon as founder of the Empire. The state organizes a major fireworks celebration.

Remembrance Day is an equivalent to Memorial Day, a day for remembering fallen soldiers. It also has a double meaning, remembering the major failed Orleans offensive that turned into a disaster during a hurricane. The state practices solemn remembrance, partly out of shame.

The pre-unification holidays are pre-apocalypse holidays that have taken an Orleans twist.

Mardi Gras is the biggest and most widely celebrated event across the Bayou. A time of feasting and revelry, the rich providing feasts as a matter of pride and demonstration of wealth while individuals partake in a binge of better food and dancing in the streets. Crime and drunken debauchery are expected in this outburst of excess. A celebration of plenty in a year of overall scarcity, there is no tradition of remembering the following season of Lent. While Mardi Gras is celebrated across the Bayou, in Orleans it also has a pre-festival tradition of re-painting the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, and other parts of the city to renew the color and energy of the city.

Halloween and Spirits Day, a bastardization of Christmas, are celebrated in their own way, linked into a two-part holiday centered around tribal beliefs of spirits and ghosts in the Bayou, and the general duality of the Bayou as both a place of danger and provision. Halloween is the more intact and familiar, with dressing up in costumes as spirits and even trick or treating to appease the Bayou spirits. With candy in limited supply, small gifts of food, clothes, toys, or even paints can be given- anything colorful is preferred. Spirits Day, the celebration of the gifts of the Bayou, is based upon reciprocity to Halloween: grateful spirits (again with costumes) are supposed to return the favor of Halloween treats with boons from the Bayou, or play tricks on those who did not appease them. While it used to be customary and expected to go into the Bayou one's self, even for something small and minor like a flower, it has become more accepted to buy a gift, even one not associated with the Bayou.

Medium-term prospects

Win or lose, Orleans is going to be the dominant population of the Gulf Coast for the foreseeable center, and a place with poor health and a high drug problem. While the Bayou Cure should help radiation sickness significantly, Bayou poisons and rampant chem use will drag down standards of living for generations to come.

Long-term goals

Napoleon's vision of an Orleans Empire is that of a regional hegemon, master of the Gulf Coast and greater Bayou. Where the Enclave sees the Bayou as a barrier to be bypassed to reach the rest of North America, Napoleon sees it as territory to be expanded into as part of the greater Gulf Coast regional hegemony.

Napoleon's ambitions are vast, but not unlimited. She has no desire for world conquest, or even domination of all of North America: she would be content with 'just' dominion over all of the Bayou and Gulf Coast, and great influence in the interior and Caribbean. A regional hegemon, respected and admired, too strong to be overthrown, and with Orleans being the crown jewel of an empire that puts the name Napoleon in the history books. Napoleon wants to be second to no one, even her father.

This is likely to be the task of many generations of expansion, which is a part of Napoleon's rational for moving to a more feudal system- a biased understanding of history that the expansion periods of great nations were also their most feudal, and that more enlightened societies were also the ones least likely to enforce their expansion at the expense of others. Napoleon's societal transformation isn't intended as a permanent alternative, but a transitory enabler until Orleans turns progressive once again, this time greater and more powerful than under the First Consul, and with Napoleon to thank for its strength. What will actually happen is, of course, anyone's guess.

* * *

Author Notes:

The second PMESII-PT. And... that's about it.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

Thoughts behind the design/analysis of Orleans

Where the Enclave was an analysis/reinterpretation of a pre-existing faction, Orleans was an analysis of a purely self-created faction. It would seem odd to do so, considering I made all the answers to the questions, but it was actually quite useful in fleshing out the society. The nobility system in particular was something that evolved almost entirely from this analysis, going from a hazy 'lets throw pretentious titles' to 'how might it work in practice?' It's one of those things that didn't matter much to the plot, but would develop heavily from world-building.

While the poor bureaucracy and nobility system on the face of it seems unwieldy and impractical, it actually isn't that far away from early (very early) American politics when most politics were at the local level. Community leaders (the moneyed, the respected, or those with the most force) were served in similar forms for communities that lacked state or federal resources. If you needed mediation, assistance, or most forms of support, the only avenue in most places were the local families with the wealth and influence to peddle. It was cloaked in the democratic rhetoric and higher systems, of course, but many parts of the early United States had de facto family dynasties that dominated local politics. Once you remove the egaltarian democratic pretensions and add a few titles and whistles, and that's what you have with the Orleans nobility.

Which is why, in its own way, I personally view the Orleans Empire as an even stronger contender for reclaiming the 'spirit' of the mythic America than the Enclave. While the Enclave claims the name and the history, its culture and practices are remarkably different. Orleans has many strong parallels to the earlier days of the United States, from egaltarian and limited government to an expansionist vision and destiny of expanding the civilization and civilizing the wilderness around it. There are differences, of course, but at heart many of the obvious differences are less substantial than they appear.


	51. PMESII-PT: Blue Waters

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

PMESII-PT

A useful and structured framework for analysis used to organize and analyze environments and build situational and social understanding. PMESII-PT stands for Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Terrain, and Time. These factors are looked at in broader terms to identify the important dynamics and structures of large groups.

What follows is a relatively short analysis of the three main factions. I say 'relatively' because a truly in-depth analysis could be dozens of pages each.

* * *

Blue Water Pirates PMESII-PT

'The Blue Water Monopoly'

* * *

P: Political

* * *

Social Structure

The Blue Water Monopoly, also commonly referred to as the Blue Water Pirates or simply the Blue Waters, is a corporate umbrella group for a variety of maritime and economic interests who share a common interest of seeking a collective monopoly on sea trade. A loose alliance of merchants, mercenaries, and a migrant flotilla that serves as heart and hub, the immense variety of unique groups and viewpoints leads to a very diverse society that can be thought of more as an alliance of companies and sailors than as a common people. Each company acts according to its own owner, the self-styled captains of industry, and each ship the kingdom of its own captain, the captains of the ship. United by shared interests, honored contracts, and the threat of sanctions and destruction of their maritime livelihoods if they leave the Monopoly, the Blue Waters are bound by no laws but their own contracts.

The Blue Waters Charter, the general organization of the Monopoly and rules of conduct between Blue Water corporations, basically amounts to a constitution formalizing and recognizing each corporation's near-total internal autonomy and right to pursue its own businesses interests. It sets up a basic stock market, the standards for dues and fees and penalties, and the basics for conflict resolution within the Blue Waters. It also establishes the primary laws and regulations of the Blue Water- effectively that theft and violence will not be tolerated between companies in the fleet, except in the context of contracts taking place outside the fleet. What goes on within a company is the responsibility of the company. Two groups can even hire two companies to oppose each other in the field, for a significant additional fee that goes to the Monopoly. But any company that accepts a job to harm another directly, especially within the fleet, will probably be destroyed. All companies that are a part of the Blue Waters sign on the Charter.

Leadership

The overall leader of the Blue Waters is Captain Supermutant, though he has far less power than his equivalents in Governor Hans or Napoleon. Most authority in the Blue Waters rests with the Captains, who are the primary shareholders of the corporation. The Captains of Ships are, obviously, the captains of their personal vessels. They are considered the pinnacle of authority of their little kingdoms, with other Captains expected to show deference when aboard. The Captains of Industry are the leaders of the companies, the merchants and mercenaries who give the Blue Waters their land presence: they set policy within their stores and employees, but have no 'sovereign territory' where they are supreme unless they buy their own ship or land.

With each Captain having a high degree of autonomy to do whatever business they wish with whoever they wish, the Blue Waters overarching leadership is broadly by consensus building and enticement. Shareholders collectively vote by share to elect the Board, which is the supreme council chaired by Captain Supermutant that determines corporate policy, sets priorities, and resolves disputes. Captain Supermutant keeps his position by virtue of it being in the corporate charter, but keeps his influence by manipulating and playing off the various factions against each other and in the direction he decides of the overall betterment of the alliance.

The Board is the council that advises Captain Supermutant and sets general policy and leads the corporate administration. It sets and collects fees, designates corporate targets and objectives, approves trade deals with other factions (including protection agreements to ward off pirate raids), resolves disputes between captains, and otherwise determines the general direction of the Blue Waters. It also formally determines which faction to support more at the moment in order to keep Orleans and Enclave balanced. Board decisions are binding. Each Board Member is an extremely influential member of the Blue Waters, and collectively many are viewed by landlubbers as Pirate Lords.

Political Divisions

Each captain is their own self-interested faction, and divisions within the monopoly are explicitly expected. The primary means of reconciling these divisions is a broad culture of live and let live tolerance and ownership. You, the owner, dictate your own preferences of your ship or company. You have no right over others, but they have no right over you. If you want someone to change their business, either convince them by offering a deal or buy them out. As the Blue Waters are largely united by commercial common interests rather than political, the wide divergence of viewpoints and preferences helps keep any one group or alliance from becoming too powerful and influential.

The most important division within the Blue Waters is the context of two Blue Water groups being hired in opposition to each other. This is an established and accepted practice, and deemed the responsibility of the groups that voluntarily took the job. It is considered their choice, and their responsibility, for making the contract and accepting the risks. Post-job fighting between Blue Water groups is strictly punished- squabbles are expected to be left on the battle field, not fought in the board room. Many Blue Waters are simply ambivalent that today's drinking buddy might be next month's fire fight. Anyone who doesn't want to accept fighting against fellow pirates, doesn't need to take a job that may require it. Or they could impose a 'no fighting other Blue Waters' clause in their contract, at which point they will not fight other Blue Waters and other Blue Waters will not fight them. This sort of clause is common for merchants, but less so for mercenary bodyguards who might stand by and do nothing while the target is murdered or burglarized.

Handling of Dissidents

The punishment for breaking the Blue Waters Charter or Board decisions is property loss. Being a corporate alliance, destroying someone's livelihood is generally far more effective as a deterrent for merchants than killing them outright: living with failure and poverty is seen as worse than death. The most serious crime is to try and have a ship outside the monopoly: the Monopoly tolerates no naval competition, and will sink any outsider ship that it can't buy out or steal. You can leave the Monopoly at any time, but you can't take your ship. Less serious crimes tend to be punished with fines and/or confiscation.

'Dissent' is a hard subject to criminalize, though, since expressing opposition to Blue Water policies or goals is perfectly acceptable and even expected. Captain Supermutant actually encourages it, and has set the standard by not silencing anti-mutant opponents. Public speech can have consequences, but these are more about changing the alliances for or against you than legal consequences. Punishment would only become relevant if you break policy, either in the Charter or the Board's policy decisions, but policies are so broad that it's hard to do so long as you don't target fellow Blue Waters.

* * *

M: Military

* * *

Organization

The Blue Waters have no formal or unified military, but do include a variety of mercenary and pirate groups. Collectively these pirates and mercenaries dominate the oceans, but in practice they are unorganized and united only by their consent to follow Captain Supermutant and the Monopoly, who leads them in accordance to the Board's general strategy. Most pirate companies are raider groups that agreed to join instead of being wiped out by the Supermutant Pirates. Quality, composition, and capabilities vary wildly. There is no uniform hierarchy or organizational structure. While most mercenaries seek their own employment contracts as they see fit, the Blue Waters do have two key military groups that provide the backbone of their strategy of balancing.

Talon Company is the elite mercenary force that sells its service to the faction determined to need the most help: it is consistently the most effective and feared Blue Water mercenary group. With a corps of DC and Orleans Veterans and locally recruited members, it organizes on a squad level with professionalization second only to the Enclave and Brotherhood of Steel. Its CEO is Daniel Littlehorn, of Daniel Littlehorn and Associates, a close (and corruptive) ally of Captain Supermutant's efforts to corporatize raiders and pirate groups into mercenary companies. Talon Company, more of a Battalion in size, is frequently a critical and decisive factor in major operations. Talon Company will be employed by whichever faction does not receive the Cure during the Act 2 finale, and provide some unique quests for each variation.

The second group is Captain Supermutant's personal company, the Supermutant Pirates. Recruited from veterans of both the West and East Coast super mutant armies, they are enforcers of last resort within the Blue Waters and are not for hire. The Supermutant Pirates have only deployed twice in-mass in the war so far, both being moments of near victory for the Enclave and Orleans. The fact that Captain Supermutant starts deploying them as the end-game approaches is an indicator that things really are coming to a climax.

Recruitment (main and auxiliaries)

Recruitment in the Blue Waters is overwhelmingly voluntary and by contract. While slavers do exist, slave soldiers are generally dismissed due to the ease of finding someone more motivated who will fight for less money than training and supporting a slave costs. Blue Water mercenaries fight to contract, with no medical care or compensation beyond what was included in the contract. There is no standard basic training, with a lot of the cheaper mercs being little more than wastelanders with guns they barely know how to use.

The exception is Talon Company, which recruits from across the Wasteland and runs an intensive training program. Talon Company pays well for jobs that cost even more, and offers a basic but comparably generous compensation plan for those who are wounded on the job. High pay, high prestige, high-quality equipment, and the prospect of a basic pension make it a reputable dis-reputable group to join. That its jobs and practices are frequently corrosive to the soul only adds to the allure as a hardcore outfit. Talon Veterans who either can't or don't want to stick with the Company often form their own mercenary groups or 'security companies' that are highly sought after for their reputation.

For the Supermutant Pirates, Captain Supermutant has gone to great effort to recruit as many Supermutants to his side as he could. Between his own exceptional intelligence, and the xenophobia of the wasteland, he has met with general success, most notably with the supermutant army in D.C. Following the events of FO3, he and Littlehorn arranged the exfiltration of both Talon Company and much of the Supermutant Army away from the threat of the Brotherhood of Steel (or Enclave FEV). Those veteran supermutants compose the bulk of his personal pirate command.

Doctrine

The Blue Waters are out to profit from the war, not win it. Their doctrine amounts to prolonging the fight, and the costs. They leave the strategy up to the employer, and focus their strategy on allocating support and preserving their own ability to preserve the balance.

The Board's Quarterly Review establishes the assessment of the balance of power and who is leading. From that, the Board will adjust hiring fees they charge the factions in order to hire Blue Water mercenaries: the more imbalance, the higher the fees. If a Faction oversteps and harms a core interest, the Blue Waters will retaliate accordingly. Blue Water support, or lack of it, is often decisive in terms of who owns what disputed terrain. As the factions are too weak to destroy the Blue Waters, the Blue Waters have largely been able to leverage their support to deter and punish transgressions.

Talon Company and the Supermutant Pirates serve as dedicated balancing agents for times when the military imbalance is too severe. Talon Company is always employed by the trailing faction. The Supermutants are the trump card, only deployed in-mass as a last resort.

Equipment

All military equipment is privately provided by the individuals and/or their companies. With extensive trade contacts across the coastlines who themselves work in the interior, the Blue Waters have the largest supply network around to be supplied with salvaged items. This makes salvaged pre-war ballistic weapons and basic salvaged/scrap armors the de facto standard, though you would see a bit of everything eventually.

Talon Company, which invests in quality, has higher-quality conventional weapons, grenades, and combat armor than most non-power armor groups. The Supermutant pirates will wear improvised armor, but use heavy and high-power weapons.

* * *

E: Economic

* * *

Currency and Income Distribution

The Blue Waters accept all major currencies for trade and barter. Major payments are almost always negotiated in advance and written down as part of a contract- bartering for increased rewards for service comes before, not after, accomplishing the mission.

Being the most 'pure capitalism' faction that follows supply and demand, income inequality is high. There is no progressive income taxation or wealth redistribution policies at the corporate levels. Wages are whatever contract you sign to, and depend on the employer.

Corporate taxes do exist, but focus more on mergers and acquisitions and stock exchanges (which are easier to track) than overall earnings and transactions (which are almost impossible to track). The only companies that are taxed and regularly audited are the banks. The distributed nature of the Blue Waters over many, many ships and companies helps prohibit a centralized tax-oversight institution. It does, however, have a developed financial sector: loans, investments, and even insurance are practices that have returned. Littlehorn and Associates, aside from owning Talon Company, also owns a predatory loan agency that preys on/targets mercenary and raider companies: offering money to buy weapons or chems, but then using loan interest to coerce these groups into sticking to Blue Water policy (or doing morally corrupting favors for Littlehorn).

Consumption Patterns

The Blue Waters biggest consumption patterns revolve around maintaining their way of life: repairs for boats, supplies for voyages, and capital for the next big trade. Personally, booze and recreation on shore leave is important- cheap pleasures preferred. Professionally, the Blue Waters are the ultimate trash vendors of the wasteland, collecting anything that might not be worth much to you and finding the person to whom it means more. For every ship big trader who deals in pure water or guns or high-value items, you'll find a dozen little sail boats filled with empty nuka-cola bottles and crafting supplies to be sold to a crafter.

Collectively, the Blue Waters are pack rats. They'll keep almost anything and everything they can, and bury away in storage what they can't, just in case they might have a use or a trade for it one day. A Blue Water treasure stash is unlikely to be a chest of caps and chems, but a buried safe filled with crafting materials they never found the missing pieces for some recipe.

The biggest capital expenditures come not from the Monopoly itself, but from private business owners. The biggest investment to be made is in buying one's own boat or ship- and that is entirely left to individuals. While the Blue Waters place heavy value on securing ship-repair infrastructure like the Dockyard, the Monopoly is, by Charter, forbidden from using collected funds to fix people's boats for them: too much favoritism and corporate welfare. Instead, purchases and repairs of ships are financed by their owners or with loans from a merchant supporter. The merchant-ship captain alliance and partnership is one of the unifying forces of the Blue Waters, with nearly every Captain either running his own business or having his ship support a sponsor who can provide the money.

Standard of Living

For most employees, life is modest and frequently similar to a sailor's. Wages on ships may be low, but there's little to spend them on so it seems bigger at shore leave. Mercenary work is a balance between profit and danger. Merchants are always looking for the next deal and one bad robbery from ruin, but often can afford that extra luxury or two. Because everyone lives on the same ship, there is a common sort of coexistence and solidarity despite income inequality: a ship captain may make the most money by far, but they will often pay for medicine or collective goods for the crew out of their own pocket or profit. The vast trade network also helps make almost anything available for purchase to those willing and able to save.

As long as you have a decent job, standards of living are between Orleans and Enclave and higher than much of the Wasteland. Life is busy and often hard, but productive. The near complete lack of a safety net makes luck significantly important, though. Bartering is also a must-have skill.

Industry and Employment

The Blue Waters have very little industry in terms of a producing raw materials or finished products, but a good deal of employment through sailing and trading. What the Blue Waters lack in producing goods they make up in crafting and salvage: while Orleans is a master in crafting items from the Bayou, the Blue Waters have an entire wasteland to gather crafting materials from. Plenty of Blue Waters do nothing but gather crafting materials, which are then sold to those willing to craft them personally or sold to other Blue Waters who craft them and sell them at a higher price. With plenty of time on long voyages to fiddle around, the Blue Waters make significant profit over adding value to their goods.

Outside of friends and family businesses, employment is by contract. By tradition, hiring contracts tend to be time-judged by ship journey or a period of months- task-focused, rather than indefinite. Wasteland merchants know it's a dangerous world out there, and counting on someone to be forever is foolish. Most employment has pre-defined payments, penalties, and so on. While slavery is practiced by parts of the Blue Waters, most non-slavers dislike and avoid perpetual contracts.

Government involvement

The Board controls a basic bureaucracy for administration and financial control of the ships, but the Blue Waters are very much a lasses-faire economy. The Board's role is to ensure contracts are honored, to resolve disputes between companies or with outsiders, and help preserve the monopoly (both collective defense and destroying rival sea faring groups): the Blue Waters have no expectation for the Board to provide medical services, repair ships, administer justice within a company, and so on. Problems on a ship are seen as the responsibility of the Captain, and most Blue Waters consider themselves free individuals and would chafe at external restrictions.

The Board as an institution has little role except to keep the rudders turning. Board members, however, have exceptional influence by virtue of being the most influential and richest people of the fleet. Hence their selection. When the Board needs something done, it often turns to the private influence of its members to twist arms, grease palms, and strike deals to make things happen. The Blue Waters have no formal military, but each Board military has their own private fleet or mercenary company to call upon: hence why the Board members are often called Pirate Lords.

Inter-factional Trade

The Blue Waters deal with lead and caps. Caps are for people who have goods ready to trade, money to buy protection, and who do not try to have ocean-faring craft to challenge the monopoly. Caps are what the merchants deal in. The pirate part of the Blue Waters deals in lead. Lead is to shoot the people who aren't willing to trade, don't buy protection or trade rights, who can't buy their own military protection, or who try to challenge the Blue Water monopoly.

The Blue Waters trade with every faction, but it's also important to note that they fight with every faction as well. The Blue Waters aren't just traders, and they aren't just pirates, but they are a monopolistic alliance that shoots anyone trying to sail who isn't them. The Blue Waters have, at various points in their history and currently, raided and sought to subdue every maritime faction on the coast of North American, and raided many that weren't. Their entire initial motivation to mobilizing to come to Orleans was to raze the dockyards and destroy the First Consul's maritime ambitions. While the merchant wing of the Blue Waters is happy to be civil and trade, it's important to remember that the 'mercenary/pirate' part actually means pirates and raiders who were willing to structure their violence and raiding in a more capitalist way. The reformation of the raiders and coastal pirates into cutthroat capitalists rather than just cutthroats is still very new.

As part of the status quo arrangement that the Blue Waters helped established in Orleans, the Blue Waters have an effective coastal trade monopoly with the Enclave and Orleans. It sells salvaged tech goods to the Enclave, slaves to Orleans, and received refurbished technology and processed bayou products in return.

* * *

S: Social

* * *

'How are problems solved?'

Money is the root of all solutions. Nearly all problems are a matter of resources- technology, people, goods, services. Everything and everyone has a price. You just have to put in the work and effort to find it and the person out there who can close the deal.

Appropriate for a very capitalistic group, the Blue Water perspective to problem solution focuses on monetary and resource cost, rather than means or morality. The Enclave has faith in technology, Orleans in associations of people. The Followers of the Apocalypse would focus on the morality and benevolence of people. The Blue Water approach is broader, not limiting itself to one style of solution, but it does have a blind spot for cost-less solutions. The sort of assumption that leads to seeking an apology gift when a verbal apology would do. It also doesn't mesh well with understanding ideology- to a Blue Water, an Orleans patriot who prefers destitute resistance to a comfortable Enclave collaborator position wouldn't make sense.

Identity, Values, Heroes, and Moral Authorities

Most Blue Waters take pride in their companies or ships and identify by them first, Blue Waters second. IE, 'I am Tom of Talon Company, a Blue Waters affiliate.' Because of how far traveled they are and how much of the wasteland they've seen, few are prone to nationalist sentiment. That said, they do appreciate the relative civility and respectability of commerce and property rights to the chaos and destitution of the wasteland, so there is a bit of an identity to belonging to a group that practices 'civilized commerce.'

As traders and merchants and mercenaries, high value is put on honoring ones bargains. Breaking a contract, even a disadvantageous one, is serious. While this can often lead to exact words and fitting the letter and not the spirit of an agreement, outright reneging on a contract can often be considered worse thank killing someone. Life is cheap, but reputations are priceless. Keeping to contracts is what distinguishes a brutal mercenary from an unforgivable raider or pirate.

Similarly, property rights are also sacrosanct. This doesn't apply as much to outsiders, though a mercenary stealing from a client (as opposed to looting from an enemy) is frowned upon, but within the Blue Waters property rights are sacred. The Board is very, very leery about taxation, and stealing from crew on a ship is grounds to break the offender's contract. It's important to note that theft of a boat is the only crime explicitly listed for capital punishment in the Blue Water Charter.

The social ideal and heroes of the Blue Waters are the Captains. Captains, whether of ship or industry, are the representation of success, of wealth, and influence. Owning your own ship or business is a life dream, a measure of freedom and responsibility and the idea that you made it. Captains are the subject of romanticized legends and character, an appeal only made more enticing by the idea that anyone, with skill and hard work and a bit of luck, can become one. Being your own business owner, even if it's a small shop, is the ambition of every child raised amongst the Blue Waters.

Social Classes and Citizens

The Blue Waters have no concept of citizenship, and three main social classes. The classes are, formally and informally, the worker/sailor class, the shareholder/captain class, and the major shareholder/captain of industry/pirate lord class.

The first is by far the most common- sailors on ships, workers in the merchant shops, tag alongs and family, and so on. The second is the effectively the middle class: merchants running their own shop, captains with their own boat and crew, and anyone who has been awarded a Blue Water stock. The final is the elite, major shareholders who are the CEOs of expanding companies or incredibly rich in their own right. They may own a lot of stock, or have gathered a lot of businesses, or own many ships. These hyper-successful people are the most influential of Blue Water, and they compose the Board.

While the Blue Waters have class differences, it doesn't have much of a class awareness- not in terms of fostering resentment and inter-class strife. With the companies and ships often being pseudo-families for those involved, and the general state of the wasteland, the premise of the Captain as having extreme authority over the subordinates is uncontroversial. Companies and ships often also take pride in the wealth and success of their leaders: there is exceptional prestige (and more opportunities) in being associated with a rich and successful captain than not.

The Blue Waters don't have a concept of citizenship, not least because they don't really consider themselves a people or a nation. Identity rests primarily with the company and ship, not the collective. As a result, citizenship is rather meaningless. Instead, the Blue Waters focus on whether you are a business inside or outside the Monopoly. Joining is relatively simple: you sign your company onto the charter, you pay a registration fee, and you have an annual due. If you wish to leave, you can. The only exception is sailors and ships outside of the Blue Waters: the defining policy of the Blue Water monopoly is a zero-tolerance policy for maritime competition. You either join, you sell your ship, or your ships are destroyed and your docks raided. (Negotiations are possible, but with the understanding of joining or selling.)

Social Problems and Concerns

The biggest social problem of the Blue Waters is the lack of a society. The Blue Waters are held together by mutual interest and the threat of retaliation by the Supermutant Pirates if they try to leave, but that's about it. While the lack of unity has been mitigated into a strength, with different companies servicing all factions and the hiring of mercenaries to fight mercenaries bringing more money to the Blue Waters, outside of the individual ships and companies there's little commonality to keep them together. In the medium-term it is very plausible that the Major Shareholders might compete too directly and try to break away from eachother, thus breaking the Monopoly.

Past societal self-preservation, the Blue Waters have a general absence of governmental care or social safety net. The primary care for a crippled or old sailor, for example, is to dump them off at some fishing village on shore and arrange for a local wastelander to take care of them, and check back up on them every voyage or so- if you have a good captain. Worse ones will just dump them off, not even necessarily at shore. Anything else is the prerogative of the employer. This is only a problem in so much that the people care, and like most wastelanders the Blue Waters have no expectations of government services, but the laissez faire attitude of the Blue Water Board would make even the Orleans feel wealthy by comparison.

* * *

I: Information

* * *

How is information spread?

The primary means of communication for Blue Waters is radio: virtually every ships and every business has one, not least because a large number of motherships in the flotilla have radio broadcasting equipment. Radio is used to coordinate ship movements, pass on stock information, and prices from abroad, personal messages between ships, and so on.

Who sends it out?

The Board maintains the Blue Water Stock Exchange, and broadcasts news information on a regular basis. Private programming and messages are sent by the private owners of the broadcasting equipment, who tend to supplement their costs with advertisements.

What is considered important to talk about?

The Blue Waters care more than any other faction about news from across the wasteland, particularly economic or trade-related news of the coastlines. By tracking economic developments, conflicts, and even natural disasters, Blue Waters can corner the markets by bringing in needed supplies and food for a profit… or exploit chaos and suffering to raid a distracted or devastated region.

* * *

I: Infrastructure

(SWEAT-MSO)

* * *

Sewers

Blue Waters have little investment in plumbing in their land or coastal holdings, where they tend to squat in pre-existing buildings. While some ships and boats have plumbing, most waste is thrown into the closest body of water.

Water

The Blue Waters drink whatever is convenient nearby. While the Blue Waters do trade with D.C. for Aqua Purae, it is sold to their own at the same market rate as they sell to others. While Blue Waters often have better access to clean water, affording it is a constant challenge.

Electrical

The majority electricity generation is from ship-born reactors that survived the Nuclear Holocaust, these vessels being the crown jewels of the flotilla. Since arriving in Orleans, the Blue Waters have gained the knowledge of how to convert old atomic car engines into boat power plants, and have been refitting their boat fleet with atomic power. Most ships that carry cargo, however, use wind power and sails.

Academic

The Blue Waters have no formal schooling what so ever. Reading, mathematics, and crafting are skills shared amongst the crew. Usually the Captain/or Merchant teaches an apprentice or first mate, who will then pass it on to the crew in informal lessons. Specialized education, such as how to craft or be a mechanic, is often bought from experts across the main flotilla. Finances and mechanical jury-rigging for ship repair and crafting trade goods are the most valued skills.

Trash

Waste is thrown into the sea. Anything that might have future for trade or crafting is usually kept- if it can no longer be kept, but can not be sold, the Blue Waters will often burry these piles of junk for future reclamation. This practice has helped re-introduce the legend of buried treasure.

Medical Facilities

All medical treatment is privately provided and purchased. On ships, a captain will often contract a doctor for the vessel for a number of tours.

Safety

The Blue Waters have no formal safety standards or similar regulation. Merchants have an incentive to provide a minimum level of quality to avoid a bad reputation being spread, but so long as they don't lie about the effects of their products the cavet emptor principle applies. The general cultural attitude to working accidents is that it's the victim's own fault.

Other Considerations

Most Blue Water territory is the boats they sail around on. On land, the Blue Waters will buy/barter/steal pre-existing buildings and infrastructure and squat in them for the duration, then leave. The Blue Waters have very, very few places of permanent territory where they maintain a prolonged presence- places like the Shipyard in Orleans, or the Pan-Atomic Canal.

* * *

P: Physical Terrain

* * *

Terrain focus

The Blue Waters stick to the coast and waterways- anywhere they can't leave by boat in short order is too far from the waters. The Blue Waters are the undisputed masters of the seas, and stick to their strengths. Only their mercenaries tend to stay away from boats for any duration.

Weather/climate effects

The Blue Waters are the most climate sensitive of all the factions, and will prioritize their ships over almost everything else. The Blue Waters have restored and run weather stations on islands across the Caribbean to watch for gathering hurricanes, and run the most commonly used regional weather forecast.

Trafficability

The Blue Waters like clear rivers and beaches to make trade and raid easier and quicker. They tend to monopolize docks whenever possible.

Visibility

Outside of crows nests on their ships, the Blue Waters tend to be behind the other factions in terms of reconnaissance. They will put radio-equipped observation posts on coastlines, but that's about the limit of their interest and proficiency.

Special equipment

The Blue Waters have none on land. At sea, they have found a way to use sonar pings to drive away Masters of the Deep from the immediate area of their ships. When a flotilla parks offshore, this is used to help keep the waters and floating docks safe.

* * *

T: Time

* * *

Dates of note

The Blue Waters do not celebrate any unique holidays of note. Individual companies may or may not celebrate local holidays- though for many, a local holiday is a chance to do more business rather than less.

The most socially relevant days are the Quarterly Reports put out by the Board, where Blue Water reports and policy changes are announced for all Blue Water members.

Medium-term Concerns

Profit is likely. Unity is uncertain. Monopoly is untenable.

While the Blue Waters enjoy a very favorable status as the largest and most powerful faction of traders and raiders of the coastline, their ability to maintain it is in doubt. Their relative strength comes from a lack of organized contenders and maritime states who could out-produce them. The NCR is focused on continental expansion and its own economic struggles, D.C. is consolidating with clean water, and Orleans is in the middle of a war. Should any stabilize and make a dedicated effort to fight the Blue Waters, the Blue Waters would have little chance of overcoming them in any naval conflict of attrition. They would have no hope on land, where their minor coastal outposts could be easily overrun, and could eventually be worn down by naval attrition. Before the Blue Waters can hope to win a war, they will need a homeland to base a state from.

Internally, the Blue Waters' lack of cultural cohesion makes political unity an ongoing struggle. While economic interest, and the fear of retaliation, has kept the Blue Waters from splitting to date, the more expansive its trade network becomes, the more likely a subfaction of Board members will find it in their interests to split. The Blue Waters already have a hard time keeping recruited pirate crews in line- the rise of an organized unsanctioned smuggler network would be hard to prevent and even harder to stop. That said, this is a well recognized threat, and various Blue Water elites including Captain Supermutant and Littlehorn have been subtly spreading their influence across the companies so that the costs of schism would be unacceptably high for those who would stand to benefit most.

Long-term goals

Despite the challenges, Captain Supermutant does have an ambition to turn the Blue Waters into a maritime nation. Specifically a Caribbean-based maritime nation, basing off of islands that can't be marched on by continental powers, with the Bayou and coastal jungles of the continents serving as a further buffer against any continental powers. Captain Supermutant has quietly been laying the groundwork for some time, using Blue Water outposts to claim a chain of small islands, with an intended climax of conquering and claiming Cuba- an effort that would be infinitely cheaper and faster with the Bayou Cure. From Cuba, the Blue Waters could have a homeland, or at least a home port, to build and maintain their ships and from which to expand. A maritime empire of strategic islands and trade routes, reconnecting the world via blue waters.

Captain Supermutant is aware of the tenuous unity of the Blue Waters, but he doesn't much mind. He believes that nationalist ideology is flawed- it is mutual interests that unite free peoples, not ideologies that brainwash them into obedience. Commerce is what can unite all races and species under one banner. Competition is natural, even desirable, to improve free peoples. Even if there is a schism of people who will pursue their own interests, he can respect that. Sink their ships, destroy their livelihoods, crush their ability to threaten his interests… but respect it none the less. By his view, if he can create the foundations of continued shared interests, then the shared identity will take care of itself. The Blue Waters just have to hold together long enough to be self-sustaining. His various machinations, gambits, and the superweapon project will help with that.

* * *

Author Notes:

And... that's a wrap!

This is the end of Fallout: Orleans, as written and outlined by me. There is nothing else written, and nothing else committed. While there was once upon a time an intent to round up all the references to quests and make a quest directory, I never had the motivation and settled format to do so on. Aside from a major Enclave quest to try and find a vice-governor election candidate for Governor Hans from the various local settlements (including a ghoul from Ghoul Town), most were terribly short and bland concepts. So... take what I've referenced, and any ideas of your own, and have fun! Locations, quests, and adventures are by no means limited to what I have already established. This work is, and has always been, just a context for other people to make and play their own games in.

So I hope you do, or can, once someone actually makes a Fallout RPG rule set that could support this. Write Bethesda and ask- maybe they will. Until then, I hope this entertains your imagination.

I'll aim for one last wrap-up Q and A to resolve any standing questions. Hopefully this won't turn out like that vow for Renegade Reinterpretations, which even gets a note on its TVtropes page, but who knows?

If you've enjoyed this, favorited this, or simply followed it, please leave a review and share your thoughts and feedback.

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

The Blue Waters changed a good deal over time, but ultimately I like where they ended up. They have their own themes and parallels with that sense of 'the America of old' that makes them a worthy contender in the struggle for Orleans. The Blue Waters are American capitalism at its best and worst: opportunistic to the point of predatorial, self-interested, amoral... but bringing trade, ideas, services, and tolerance as well. It is reconnecting a broken and divided world- not always in a pleasant way or for admirable reasons, but it is a service that will ultimately greatly benefit the Wastelanders of the world. Through mutual self-interest and greed and profit motives, the Blue Waters have forged a community in which anyone, regardless of gender or race or even species, can rise and be accepted (if not loved). It's a Monopoly of great diversity and individual freedoms, for better and for worse, and it could easily turn into something great as it could go down a dark and evil path. It's not benevolent, but it offers a great deal of freedom (to succeed and to fail) while marshaling resources and trade that people can indulge at their preference.

There is actually a concept sketch of Captain Supermutant that was drawn by a good friend of mine. With an eyepatch and toy parrot on the shoulder, it became the unremovable part of the Blue Waters that could otherwise have been just another raider faction. I recognize that salvaging yet another supermutant force is questionable by some, but honestly- the image of supermutants dressed as pirates sold me.

If I had one regret about the Blue Waters, it was that the origins from flotilla never really get touched on. It doesn't matter much, ever since they transitioned to the Monopoly, but before there was Captain Supermutant the boat peoples of the Caribbean were once their own culture.


	52. The Final Roundup

I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.

* * *

Fallout: Orleans

* * *

The Final Roundup

* * *

This is the end, and the answer to the questions that were asked (and a few that were not).

Here they are, grouped by theme or faction.

* * *

Mechanics and Lore Questions

* * *

-Did the three main factions take over any/all the independent radio stations in the region, to leave the Bayou with its current selection?

Yes and no. Before the war, private citizens owned some of the radio stations in the Bayou. When the Enclave invaded, they took over a number of radio towers as part of their invasion plan, which now form the backbone of the Enclave network. During their time, the Blue Waters have also seized some towers (sometimes on behalf of the factions). But the Orleans Republic had never reactivated all the potential radio stations in the Bayou, so many/most of the Blue Water radio towers have been repaired and reactivated by the Blue Waters themselves, and were not functional before their arrival.

-Why can't you expand the radio coverage of the other main factions like you do the Blue Waters radio?

Three reasons: the immersion of limited radio range, the role of the Projector as a signalling device, and arbitrary question design.

Radio range limitations is one of those immersion-enabling devices that helps distinguish various regions of the game- a crude but effective way to signal to the player that they are leaving different areas of influence. In FO3, the fact that Three Dog wasn't always audible until you did the quest for him was both a way to emphasize the significance of radio, and to indicate to the player when they were getting closer or further from D.C. Sometimes denying the player options is what is needed to make them appreciate the availability of something.

In Orleans, the fact that the factional radios are limited helps reflect their spheres of influence: the Enclave can't be heard and doesn't have as much influence in Orleans territory without the Projector, the Blue Water presence in the Bayou spreads the more the radio stations do, and so on. The fact that Orleans (or the Enclave) suffers limited radio while the owner of the Projector can be heard everywhere is one of the big cues about which faction has the upper hand in the ongoing war as you reach the late game: you could look at events on the ground, or tell by what you can hear and where. In addition, restoring radio stations would obviously be a significant (and easier) way to get a number of Stock, it meshes with the theme of building influence with the Blue Waters to get them to stay in a Blue Waters path.

Finally, because spreading Blue Water radio coverage was what the quest was. Unlike a news source, the Blue Water is pretty trivial as a music program: not having it isn't that much of an impact, but spreading it was a way for players to mark their progress across the Bayou to more and more areas. Spreading Enclave/Orleans radio doesn't add anything unique to that, while it would contest the idea of the previous points.

-What currencies do minor factions like the Brotherhood of Steel use?

Minor factions primarily trade in caps, though they accept factional currencies as well. The lack of a proper currency is one of the indicators that factions like the Brotherhood are more tribes than civilizations in their own right. The Hidden Village has exceptional amounts of factional currency, though, which they use to help their infiltration missions.

-Can the player have companions equip costumes?

Yes. Costumes are equipment like any other armor, so companions will equip it if it's the best thing in their inventory. While I never planned any out, there could even be costumes for the non-human companions, similar to the tacky dog costumes you see every once in a while.

* * *

Enclave Questions

* * *

-If the Navigator helps the Enclave win Orleans, will they be remembered as a Hero to the Enclave?

Yes, though moreso in a Hans route than if you deposed him. If Hans lives, assuming you live as well, Hans will make the Navigator a public hero, proof to the Pure Enclave that wastelanders can be vital allies, and a role model (of sorts) for the local populace that good service will be recognized and rewarded.

If you deposed Hans, the Enclave military sees you more as a useful tool, but they were going to award you as well... it just so happens that your award ceremony is when Belle suicide nukes you.

-Was Atlantis a failed paradise under the ocean?

No, though to the collapsing pre-nuke USA it may have seemed one. Atlantis was a secret research base and construction dock for the Enclave's space colonization program. High tech, well supplied, but not a permanent settlement.

-Was the Arc a destroyed spaceship?

It would be better to think of it as a damaged and incomplete prototype. The Arc was the proof-of-concept model for future colonization ships that were intended to be both space and sea capable in case the colonization planet didn't have good enough land. The Arc itself was not the colonization ship intended for space colonization, but it would have accompanied the colonization fleet of however many ships were complete. The Arc was nearly finished, but was damaged in the attack on Atlantis. Now it is effectively a fancy submarine.

* * *

Orleans Questions

* * *

-At what point in Napoleon's plan for future expansion does technology become a priority?

Never. Orleans is a low tech culture and society which believes that technology is a tool, not a goal. The Orleans culture views problems being solved by people, not technology, and so the priority of Orleans under Napoleon is always going to be to build a society of people, not a society for research and development. Technology isn't despised, but it isn't a priority, and making it into one would run into the fact that Orleans and the Bayou are pretty poor in high-technology resources.

-Does Napoleon have a plan for reducing addictions without people losing their patriotism to the state?

Not really. The growing drug problem in Orleans is in a cultural blindspot of sorts, a reflection of the Orleans expectation of short lifespans, meager standards of living, and a value of personal choice. Taking addictive chems is viewed as a choice, and not even a stigmatized one, so even if chem clubs and addicts aren't admired the choice to be a recreational chem user is viewed as a personal choice. Since everyone expects to die in their thirties or forties at best anyway, the fact that some people choose to get high and die isn't as controversial as it might be in a developed society. It won't be until chem addiction and desperation branches into crime and extreme harm to the society that it will be recognized as a major issue.

-Could you give Napoleon the Currency Crown for a Reputation bonus?

Yes, actually. As an analog to the quest to help Governor Hans find a running mate from the locals, there was a quest concept in that the Navigator would be tasked to find a royal crown befitting of Napoleon- multiple options existed, each with their own theme/significance and an epilogue slide about how the crown in question gave Napoleon a perspective on ruling. Various crowns included the originally commissioned crown that was lost in the initial Enclave invasion (associated with pride and reclamation), a costume-jewelry replica (associated with the importance of appearances over content), one of the FNV halo-circlets from the Big Empty (associated with benevolent technology), and some other options related to allies, military strength, and so on. The Currency Crown would have been an option tied to wealth and commerce- but it also would have meant permanently losing the associated stock plates.

* * *

Blue Waters Questions

* * *

-Can you start your own business as a member of the Blue Waters?

In a sense, the Navigator already is their own business (being, well, a Navigator). Backstory establishes that you've paid the Blue Water boating fees in the past, Captain Supermutant waives some mundane restrictions as part of his bid to get your help, and the player obviously does a lot of business in quests. As for formalizing your business and becoming a registered member? I hadn't planned it, but it could certainly be done. It could even be a way to get a personal property as a home base: your 'shop' is a more accessible version of the Lucky 7 suite, your non-employed companions could stay there, and you could even set up a store front in which a companion left behind could try to sell designated items over time. Say that any items you put in the 'sale' chest could be sold, with each in-game hour allowing 100 caps of items to be sold off and removed.

I didn't plan it, but it could work. Balance it with some sub-optimum exchange rates, so that it's better to sell things yourself, and you could expand it with expansions and modifications as appropriate.

-Would collecting all the Stocks in the game make the Navigator a Pirate Lord to the Blue Waters?

Not in-game, though it could be an Epilogue Slide. In game, about the only person who really cares about your number of stocks is Captain Supermutant, and possibly a few others elite Blue Waters. Most people only care about what you have done (or can do) for them.

-Can you bring Daniel Littlehorn to justice?

Yes, though not as finally as might be desired. Littlehorn and Associated and the Regulators have dueling philosophies, ethics, and quests, and a late Regulator quest would be to take Littlehorn out. Or you could just shoot him in the face, or tell him you're about to kill him before you do.

Thing is, Littlehorn ties into the pseudo-supernatural aspect of the Wasteland, and his imagery and symbolism is a not-so-subtle insinuation that he's a devil. If you talk to him about killing him before you do, he'd talk about how his good works at corrupting people is an ideal that can't be stopped with him. He'd make a claim that you could never really kill him, that shooting the man would just see the ideal pop up in another... and if you did kill him, the player would later get a letter from a courier from... the new owner of Littlehorn and Assoicate. Thanking the Courier for removing the 'old form' and allowing them to take over. Littlehorn and Associates is a 'growth industry', they vow, and your murder of Littlehorn will bring 'new blood' to 'revitilize' the mission. Signed... Danial Littlehorn. The same man? New man taking the old name? Unclear, and never addressed by anyone else in the setting.

Littlehorn is the idea of corruptive evil, and evil always finds a way.

* * *

Questions of the Author

* * *

-Have you (the writer) considered selling this idea to Bethesda?

No. Besides that I couldn't sell Bethesda their own property (ie, Fallout), it would be very rude and presumptuous. Ideas are cheap and easy. Everyone has ideas. Execution, actually making games, is hard work, and can't be done for everything. If I were a game maker and some stranger came up with what they thought was an awesome idea, I would fully expect to say 'fuck your ideas!', and I would expect the same from them. I wouldn't even be offended.

So I'll just leave this here, and if one day some Fallout employee leaves a review that they liked it... well, I'd be tickled. But they needn't even bother asking to take whatever elements of it they want.

-Can I (the reader) use this setting or format for a fanfic of my own?

Certainly. I'd appreciate if anyone using this as a fanfic base (or even a tabeltop RPG session) drops a review and lets me know how it turns out, but no one needs any other permission from me.

-Will you (the writer) ever make another concept like this?

Depends on what you mean 'like this.' Another Fallout project? Probably not. A Bethesda-style open world RPG setting? Yes- I actually have an entirely separate one half-made, but it's an entirely original concept and project so it would never be posted on FFN. That one is a bit more personal as well. World-building projects in general, though? I both enjoy and am better at scenario and world design than writing dialogue and characterization, so future projects will be more of this 'meta-heavy design narrative' style than actual stories and plots.

-What will be your (the writer's) next project?

Dunno- probably not anything for awhile. I'm busy with work and have other priorities for my free time, including just enjoying games I can play rather than writing about games I never will play.

Aside from finishing up and finalizing some old personal projects (which unfortunately are all original setting, and so wouldn't be on FFN), most of my ideas are related to Mass Effect. Crossovers, actually, including some more setting-building or game-design ones. There's 'Masshammer 4K,' the game that blends both so insidiously that it was deemed an Outrage in one setting and Heresy in the other. There's a long-standing idea for a Mass Effect - Civilization cross, a post-Destroy Civ scenario and mechanics that would make a cool mod of sorts. There's always the effort to finish Renegade Reinterpretations (or, rather, explain why it can't be finished in the same format as the rest). There's 'Mass-Com', a conceptual crossover of Mass Effect and the original X-COM games which puts the ME trilogy in the format of an X-COM series, starting with the Collector abductions of Earth from Mars and moving to a completely different version of the hunt for Saren and the Reaper War. Plus a bunch of other teaser crossovers- the Mass Effect setting is exceptionally ripe for crossovers. Of course, I could just re-write the backstory (again): a non-unified Humanity that ends up shaking galactic politics? Paragon Parables?

That's if some of the other ideas in my head don't jump onto paper, of course. There's the epic re-imagination of Fire Emblem: Awakening that I never could write, the character creation project for practice in making OCs, and so many other good anime and games out there...

Point is, who knows? I have lots of ideas, but they don't always work out well.

* * *

Author Notes:

And... that's it!

Thanks go to everyone who's helped this world-building exercise come to completion. The friends who helped me brainstorm, the patient listeners who let me reason it all out aloud, the people at google maps who made such a useful program to spend empty nights exploring Louisiana to find so many unique and fanciful locations, and of course all the developers of the Fallout series, especially Fallout: New Vegas. You all created a masterpiece and an inspiration, and I hope it is known that this imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

While all the other chapters were already written before the first chapter was updated, I also want to thank everyone who reviewed and shared their thoughts. Things they liked, things they had reservations on, and everything else they gave a chance. This work may not be a perfect video game design, or a tabletop RPG design, but I hoped it would feel authentic to the series and thank everyone who said that it did.

Thanks to all, and with that a final secret!

* * *

Secret of the Bayou:

I have never been to New Orleans myself.

(I wonder what trope _that_ would fall under if this work ever ends up on TVTropes. Renegade Reinterpretations did- and wasn't that a hoot to read for the first time?)


End file.
